Eine Mitternachtsstimme
by Crystal Rose of Pollux
Summary: A new arrival in Domino has the duelists on alert, but trouble seems to be worldwide as people start vanishing mysteriously. The new Rare Hunters, under Bandit Keith, are on the move again. And Seto Kaiba has his own problems on top of all of that...
1. Just When Things were Normal

Author's Note: This fic (whose title is German for "A Midnight Voice") is a continuation of my mystery timeline, and is the first part of what will eventually be a trilogy. Since this picks up from where "Folgen Sie Ihrem Traum" left off, there will be some mild Seto/Téa moments in this fic, but my main focus will be on the interaction of all of the characters, not to mention the mystery at hand. And, as always, the characters aren't mine (except for Vulsor, Travencore, Mystíca, Delphi, Aurus, and Kayser), and the story is. There is a character from a lesser-known fandom playing a role in this fic, but I may as well mention that he has repented and is in a slight AU for his fandom.

* * *

The CEO stifled a yawn as he worked on his latest endeavor; he was using his laptop computer from the comfort of his luxurious four-poster bed. The clock on the laptop declared that it was 1 in the morning, but he was tempted to keep on going; it wouldn't be his first all-nighter, and it certainly wouldn't be his last.

Mokuba often advised him against all-nighters, and he wasn't the only one; ever since he had helped Téa Gardner solve a bizarre mystery over the summer, Seto and the dancer had grown a lot closer—to the point that they had shared a kiss on the rooftop of the Opera Populaire when they had been to Paris. He had finally admitted to himself, and to her, that he did have feelings for her. She hadn't told anyone yet, for which he was exceedingly grateful.

Mokuba was the only one besides the two of them who knew about the kiss. Seto hadn't said a word, but his brother somehow knew about it, and immediately questioned him as Seto had returned from the misadventure two months ago.

"So… how was The Chase?" the boy had asked, a smirk on his face.

"The Rare Hunters got away," Seto had replied, trying to avoid the subject that he knew the boy would be bringing up. "But we did manage to get our hands on some Egyptian medallion; I figured Yugi might be able to make some sense out of it, since that's his area of expertise."

"Uh-huh," Mokuba had replied. "And what about Téa?"

"What about her?" the CEO asked, casually. "They captured her, tried to make her join them, and I jumped through the window of a French manor to save her."

"And then you were up on the rooftop of the old Opera House ruins, right?"

Seto had frozen at that point, but he hadn't denied it, which had prompted the boy to grin.

"How did you find out about that…?"

"Oh, you know…" Mokuba had said. "We've had a number of odd, but well-informed, Informants wander through town before…"

Seto smiled, in spite of himself, as he recalled the conversation with his brother. He knew that Mokuba wouldn't tell anyone, so there hadn't been a point in denying it.

Life had gone normally since that fiasco had ended. Although Bandit Keith had taunted Téa by saying that she was officially a Rare Hunter because she had worn the violet robe (albeit against her will) and accidentally got a drop of ink on the ceremonial parchment, he hadn't pursued her; she was once again among her friends. Nothing had changed, other than the fact that she was now much closer to him; they communicated regularly, talking about casual things, mainly, although she had sent him a birthday card few days ago (this was in addition to the one that Yugi and his entourage had all signed). Seto usually didn't think too much of birthday cards, usually keeping only the ones that Mokuba had given him over the years while filing the others away, but he had kept Téa's card.

And there was also the addition of the Egyptian medallion, which the Rare Hunters had been so keen on retrieving, only to later give up. Neither Yugi nor Solomon had been able to find anything particularly special with it, and they had returned it to him after nearly two months of trying to find out what they could. Their research had come up empty, so after Yugi had sent a description of the medallion to the Ishtars in Cairo, he had returned the artifact to Seto.

Seto, of course, hadn't wanted anything to do with the medallion, so he had merely tossed it onto his dresser and had forgotten all about it; it was still there, even as he sat typing.

He stifled another yawn as his cell phone rang. His eyebrows arched, wondering who would be calling him at such an unearthly hour. He half considered not answering it, especially since the caller ID's message of "NightWing Enterprises" was completely new to him. But he went against his better judgment, and he took the call anyway.

"Kaiba," he said, giving his customary greeting.

"_Guten Abend_, Kaiba," greeted the unfamiliar voice.

Seto's eyes narrowed; the man on the line obviously knew German. Was he someone from Schroeder Corporation? That would certainly explain why he would be calling at a time like this.

"Look, can you make this quick?" Seto asked. "What does Siegfried want now?"

"Siegfried von Schroeder?" the man replied. "I am not affiliated with him; in fact, it is quite the opposite. He referred me to you, if you will. I came to him a few months ago with a new holographic system involving shadows instead of light. He said that you might be intrigued, since it would give your holograms a new, more realistic look to them, even at night."

Seto shook his head slightly. Clearly, he was tired; he had apparently misheard something about shadow holograms. That couldn't be possible; holograms were always made from light, weren't they?

"I think we'd be better off discussing this at a time that would be slightly more convenient for me," Seto replied.

"Understood," the man replied. "My apologies; perhaps I can meet you in your office sometime tomorrow?"

"Do you really think you can make it to Domino by that time?" asked the CEO.

"The wings of the night carry me swiftly," the man replied. "I will see you tomorrow, then."

"Hold on," said Seto, his eyes narrowed. What sort of craziness was he getting himself into now? "Who are you, anyway?"

"I am the Graf Johan von Krolock."

Seto shook his head again as he said goodbye and disconnected the call. Suddenly, he starting to feel tired; perhaps he _was_ overworked. A Graf was an old title, signifying someone with the rank of a Count. He didn't even think that such a ranking system even existed anymore; the only explanation was that this man's family had once held that title.

He cleared a space on the mahogany dresser for his laptop, his hand moving the medallion slightly. He made a mental note to get rid of it; it certainly wasn't serving him any purpose.

He then rested his head on the pillow, the pressures of everyday life departing from him, if only for a few hours. It was no secret that Seto Kaiba had more on his plate than others his age; he had just turned twenty-one a few days ago, and yet he was manning the post of Kaiba Corporation's CEO—a task that most of the people before him had only undertaken at an age that made him look like a mere child.

But a child was far from what Seto Kaiba was; he never had a chance to enjoy a childhood. That was something that Téa pitied about him. There were times when he did envy how she went about her life, happy and carefree. Her bubbly personality had taken a few hits over the summer's mystery, but she was bouncing back to her usual bright self; her friends, undoubtedly, were behind this… although Seto himself may have been a factor, too.

He was slipping into lower levels of awareness now, vaguely aware of the sounds of Domino at night. The city remained awake at night; usually, he was up with it, but sleep was beckoning him at the moment. The traffic, the fall breeze, and the distant call of an owl were all fading into the distance… all except for one solitary sound: a very distant whisper. The voice wasn't getting quieter; on the other hand, it was increasing in its intensity, as thought it was approaching closer.

The businessman's eyes opened for a moment; it had sounded as though the speaker had been in the same room. But there was no one there, and he dismissed as his weary mind playing tricks on him. The voice hadn't made much sense anyway; it had sounded like some other language… like that he had heard in his many encounters with the world of ancient Egypt.

He sighed to himself, half amused and half annoyed. After all of the nonsense that he had seen over the years, it only made too much sense that he would start hearing voices speak in ancient Egyptian.

He put the matter behind him, and slipped away into slumber.

* * *

Joey Wheeler wasn't usually considered a night owl, but tonight was different. The latest installment of his favorite video game series had recently been released, and he had finally amassed enough money to buy it. He hadn't been able to resist showing off his latest purchase to his friends, only to find out that Tristan, too had bought the game earlier that same day. One element of the conversation had lead to another, and it ended with Joey and Tristan getting into an argument about who would have progressed further into the game by the next day's dawn.

And that was why Joey was awake now. He had decided that the circles under his eyes would be worth it if it meant that he would have won the bet (lunch would be on the loser, and after spending his cash reserves on buying the game in the first place, it was a bet that Joey couldn't afford to lose).

Absorbed in his quest, the blond youth was oblivious to the passing hours. His eyes were fixed to the monitor screen, and his ears were covered by the headphones (he had wanted to enjoy the soundtrack of the game without disturbing his father). It was well past midnight when the realization hit him.

"_Aw, man…_" he thought, amazed with himself. "_Looks like my 'five more minutes' turned into 'five more hours'… But there's no way that Tristan could beat this!_"

Hunger was beginning to taunt him. And Joey Wheeler was not a person who would allow hunger to get the best of him. Finally laying his quest aside for the night, he proceeded to raid the refrigerator, seeking something amidst the bounty of fruits, vegetables, and otherwise healthy food.

Finally procuring a slice of pizza from the very back, he sat back to enjoy it.

"_And there're enough pieces left for me to serve as lunch in case Tristan _does_ win the bet_," he mused. "_Which he won't, of course; no one can outdo Joey Wheeler, godfather of games--_"

His train of thought came to a screeching halt as a shadow flew by the streetlight outside his apartment window, temporarily blocking the light and subsequently startling him. Glancing outside, he saw a large bat circling the area. It finally landed on a tree, hanging upside-down in a typical bat-like fashion.

A frightened screech reached Joey's ears, and to his astonishment, a black-capped capuchin leaped from the tree branch to the streetlight, apparently startled by the bat's arrival. Joey had seen the monkey before (its little robe was unmistakable, even in the dim light); it belonged to a local psychic who had helped them solve another mystery during the past spring.

"Delphi?" he asked, opening the window.

The monkey chattered in reply, leaping from the streetlight and into Joey's kitchen. She immediately seized Joey's half-eaten pizza slice from his hand and happily ate away at it.

"Hey!" he said, annoyed. "Bad monkey! That was supposed to be _my_ midnight snack!"

Delphi tilted her head slightly, as though pretending to be confused at what he was saying.

"Don't give me that look; I _know_ you understand English, and you know that I know you know…" He trailed off, tossing the thought aside before he confused himself. "Never mind… So, what brings you to this neck of the woods, and so late, too? I'd have thought that you'd be asleep right now…"

Delphi reached into the pocket of her robe and pulled out a piece of paper. Unfolding it, Joey realized that the message wasn't written in English; it was written in the Egyptian script, which was beyond his power to read.

"Well, thanks," he said, baffled. He would have to take this to Yugi in the morning; maybe then, things would begin to make more sense.

Delphi chattered something in reply, and she then held out what was left of the pizza slice.

"Eh… no, thanks; I don't think I want it now…"

The monkey set the pizza slice firmly in her jaws and leaped back out the window. Joey watched her go, wondering what on earth would be descending upon Domino this time. Based on his previous experiences, he knew very well that it could be just about anything.


	2. Of Notes and Holograms

"Seto?"

The CEO awoke to find himself being woken up by his younger brother, who had an accusing look on his face.

"Seto, were you pulling another all-nighter?" the boy asked.

"I considered it," Seto admitted. "But I decided against it after I think I misheard a phone call."

Mokuba's eyebrows arched.

"Then what are you doing here instead of your room?"

Seto glanced around, noticing that he was not in his room, but inside his home office. He frowned, clearly vexed; he knew he had turned in last night, albeit quite late. So how on earth had he ended up here?

Mokuba noticed his brother's perplexed expression, and began to grow more concerned.

"Seto, I think you've been working too hard lately," he said. "You should take some time off…"

Seto shook his head, clearing the cobwebs in the process. He was certain that he hadn't continued with his work after receiving that strange phone call. And that was when he remembered the meeting.

"I can't take any time off today; I have a meeting," Seto informed him, deeply annoyed that he wasn't able to recall how he had come to be in his office; perhaps he _was_ working too hard, but he still had to meet with von Krolock, and find out exactly what it was he had misheard as "Shadow Holograms."

Mokuba glanced at Seto uncertainly. His brother had overworked on countless occasions, but he had never lost awareness like this before. He must have been incredibly tired if he didn't even know when and where he had stopped working. And it was strange that Seto wouldn't have returned to his room. He claimed he had, but why was he here, then?

"Well, you should eat something before you go," the boy said at last, unsure of what to say to Seto. "You know, you have been neglecting yourself a lot lately; after today's meeting, you should take some time off."

"I don't think that'll be necessary," Seto insisted, refusing to admit that something was wrong at all. "I've always done things this way, and I don't see a need to change because of something like this."

Mokuba kept silent as Seto got to his feet to return to his room. Seto would never agree that he was working too hard; in fact, it seemed that in spite of devoting the majority of his strength and attention to the company, Seto still thought that he wasn't doing enough.

But then a thought crossed the boy's mind. Would Seto listen to Téa? He knew that Seto wouldn't be appreciative of Mokuba turning to any of Yugi's crew for help, especially for something like this. But maybe it was just a one-time thing. The boy sighed as he went to the breakfast nook, hoping that it was true.

Seto's morning copy of the _Domino Gazette_ was waiting for him on the table. Normally, Mokuba wasn't too bothered, but his eyes fell upon the headline.

"_Dronyche Company CEO, Aranea Vulsor, Released from Prison Upon Grant of Appeal._"

"What!?" the boy cried out, in disbelief.

"What is it?" asked Seto, arriving in time to hear Mokuba's exclamation.

Wordlessly, the boy handed the paper to his brother, and Seto's frown deepened as he read. How could this have happened? How could the woman be let loose, just like that, after she had not only tried to ruin him, but also tried to kill him!?

"What happens now?" asked Mokuba, trying to read over his brother's shoulder. "You don't think she'd try to kill you again, do you?"

"She'd be a fool if she even set foot within a mile of Kaiba Corporation," Seto replied. "I wouldn't worry about it, Mokuba; I've mentioned before that she's nothing more than a Carmen Sandiego act-alike, and she knows very well not to make me her enemy again."

"But it still isn't fair that she's allowed to go free after everything she put us through!" fumed the younger boy.

Seto merely nodded in reply. True, it wasn't fair, but it certainly was suspicious. With a frustrated sigh, he continued reading the rest of the paper.

"Another missing person case; looks like this one happened in California," he said, causing Mokuba to take a closer look.

"Isn't that twelfth one this week?" the boy asked. "This all started a few weeks ago; how many people have vanished so far?"

"Nearly thirty people have vanished without a trace," said Seto, reading through the article. "The people are from all over the world, and they all vanished the same way—right out of their beds."

Mokuba shot his brother a worried glance. Maybe it _wasn't_ a coincidence that Seto hadn't woken up in his room!

"I really don't think that the result of my overworking has anything to do with this," Seto insisted, sensing his brother's thoughts. "As you can clearly see, I haven't vanished."

"Not yet, anyway…" Mokuba mumbled to himself, but Seto heard him. "Do you realize that it's going to be Halloween tomorrow, Seto? That'd be the perfect time for something to turn up and spirit you away!"

"If they existed," Seto replied. "And we know that they do not."

"What about Atem?" the boy challenged. "He was a spirit, wasn't he?"

Seto paused, trying to come up with some reply. Finding none, he turned back to his brother.

"I don't know what sort of nonsense will manifest itself," Seto admitted. "But I promise you, Mokuba, that there is nothing or no one who will be able to take me out. I've come too far in my life to lose everything just like that."

"And I promise that you can count on me to help in any way I can!" Mokuba replied.

"Good; then you can run things at the office while I meet with the head of NightWing Enterprises today."

"Who's that?" asked the raven-haired boy. "I've never heard of them."

"Apparently, Siegfried recommended us to him," Seto replied. "I'm wondering if it really was a referral, or if it was his way of trying to annoy us."

"I don't think Siegfried would do something like that anymore," Mokuba said. "Maybe he would have before, but Leon says that Siegfried has really come a long way since then."

Seto didn't reply. In his opinion, if Siegfried von Schroeder was involved, it was going to be a long day.

* * *

When Joey arrived at the Kame Game Shop that morning, his friends were surprised to see him wander in with a note in one hand and an energy drink in the other.

"What happened to you?" Yugi asked, his eyes wide.

"I can safely say that I won my bet with Tristan," he replied, with a grin. "I've beaten the third boss, and I saved my game right before the end of the fourth dungeon."

"I _beat_ the fourth dungeon," Tristan replied.

"…You've gotta be kidding me…" the blond boy replied, as Téa and Mai began to snicker. "I was up until one in the morning--"

"Never mind about that," said Yugi, trying to stop the rant before it could get off of the ground. "What's that piece of paper you have there?"

"What, this?" asked Joey, glancing at it. "Delphi the monkey gave it to me last night when she came through my window and stole my pizza."

The others blinked.

"Yeah, I know it sounds ridiculous, but that's what happened!" he insisted. "I think it's a message from Mystíca, but she wrote it in hieroglyphs. So I thought that you'd be able to decipher it, Yugi."

"Well, it doesn't say much… 'I don't have time to explain right now, but beware of unwanted visitors in Domino.'"

"And goodness knows we have a least a dozen of those every year," said Mai, dryly.

"Looks like we need to pay a visit to get some more information," said Yugi. "It's weird, though; she usually gives us a bit more than just a one-sentence warning…"

"Well, you can go on ahead," said Téa. "I need to preside over some last-minute rehearsals for tomorrow afternoon's Halloween performance. The kids' costumes look so adorable; you guys have got to come!"

Her harrowing experience with the Rare Hunters hadn't appeared to have left any lasting effects on her… at least, it didn't seem like that on the surface. She had told her friends about how they had wanted to initiate her, and how Seto's timely arrival had prevented it from going through. But she hadn't been able to tell them about how she actually wore a Rare Hunter robe, or how Bandit Keith had claimed that one drop of ink on the parchment was enough to seal the pact. Nor had she told them about the kiss on the opera rooftop. She had tried to push the memories away (Seto Kaiba would have undoubtedly done the same), but they kept resurfacing at the most inopportune moments. That was how she had ended up sending Seto a birthday card. She didn't know what had become of it.

* * *

Seto and Mokuba were going over a fresh wave of invoices when an older man entered the room, his long, silver hair falling upon the black suit he was wearing. Mokuba glanced at him, his eyebrows arched; the man's piercing eyes stood out from his otherwise sunken face.

"So you are Seto Kaiba?" he asked.

"It would seem so, wouldn't it?" Seto replied, frowning slightly as he heard the man's voice. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

"I was the one who called you," he reminded him.

"I _know_ that!" Seto retorted. "I was asking if I had met you somewhere before."

"I think not," von Krolock replied, with a smirk. "I would have remembered a temper such as yours."

Seto's frown deepened; he was not going to be chided in his own office by a total stranger. Or _was_ he a total stranger? Seto was certain that he had heard the man's voice before, and not just from the phone call. But there was neither time nor reason to ponder over that now.

"If I remember correctly, you called me to talk about some holographic system you developed?" asked Seto.

"Indeed," von Krolock replied. "Siegfried von Schroeder thought that you would be interested, as the holograms do not require light, and, as such, they are more lifelike."

"And I thought I was mishearing things…" Seto mused. "I'm afraid that you're going to have to convince me that such holograms exist."

"I have to agree with him on this one," said Mokuba. "Doesn't 'hologram' mean 'light picture' in the first place? I mean… how can you have a light picture without light?"

"If you do not believe me, you can ask Siegfried von Schroeder; he will vouch for me," von Krolock replied.

"I'm not about to take his word, either," Seto informed him. "I need a practical demonstration of these holograms before I agree to discuss anything."

"Fair enough; you shall have one," said the silver-haired man. "You aren't the only skeptic; I have invited several other CEOs, along with some personal friends, to a dinner party that I am holding in my Domino headquarters just outside town. It is tomorrow night; perhaps you would wish to attend and see for yourself?"

"You do realize that this is short notice, don't you?" asked Seto. "However, I have noting better to do on Halloween night, and since it could be a way of improving Kaiba Corporation's technology, I will attend. But this had better not turn out to be a colossal waste of my time."

"I assure you, Mr. Kaiba, you will not be disappointed," von Krolock insisted, with a slight bow of politeness. "And do not forget to bring your lady friend with you."

"My what!?" Seto asked.

"I was under the impression that someone such as yourself would have a lady friend," von Krolock said. "I have extended the invitations, requesting the attendees to bring a guest with them; the more witnesses who see the demonstration of the holograms. And it isn't just a simple business dinner; it is a dinner party, with plenty of cocktails and waltzes."

"I don't waltz," Seto replied, flatly. "I'm only coming to see the holograms."

"All the same, I request that you do not come alone," warned the silver-haired man. "Tomorrow is Halloween, after all; you never know what might be lurking in the shadows."

"From my experience, it's usually nothing," Seto replied.

The silver-haired man merely smirked. With another polite bow, he departed.

"So, Seto…" said Mokuba, smirking as well. "What will you do?"

"What do you mean?" the blue-eyed man asked.

"Well, you know that I can't make it tomorrow; I'm booked for a Halloween party," the boy said, not even trying to hide what he was thinking. "And you can't go alone…"

"Just because he requests me to bring a guest, it doesn't mean that I have to," Seto informed him.

"It'll make you look bad," said Mokuba. "And if you look bad, so does the company. You wouldn't want that, right?"

"What are you getting at?" asked Seto, though he had a pretty good idea what.

"Well… I know for a fact that Téa is at the Performing Arts Center right now," said the boy. He patted his brother on the shoulder. "Think about it."

And he sidled out of his brother's office. Seto could hear him snickering outside the door. Mokuba was enjoying the role of matchmaker far more than he should.


	3. The Dinner Party

Seto Kaiba was as brusque as ever when he finally did explain to Téa about von Krolock's insistence of having someone accompany him to the dinner party. Although he didn't voice the words, his tone made it very clear that this was not even the vaguest resemblance of a "date."

Flustered, Téa decided to accept; she had no other commitments, save for the next afternoon's dance recital. And so they agreed to meet at the location that von Krolock had mentioned. She was just getting off of the phone when her friends arrived.

"Hi, Guys," she said. "I thought you were going to meet Madame Mystíca?"

"Yeah, we were," sighed Joey. "But her shop was closed."

"And I'm worried," added Yugi. "She normally keeps her shop open six days a week. And you would think that with Halloween upon us, she'd even have special extra hours."

"I guess something came up," suggested Mai. "You know that sprits would be the most active around this time of year…"

"All the same, I think we should have someone staked out to see if and when she comes back," said Tristan.

"What a great idea," said Duke, with a smirk. "And since you thought of it, you can be the one to do so while I take Serenity to the Halloween party tomorrow."

"What!?" Joey and Tristan both yelled as the others rolled their eyes.

"Joey, calm down," said Mai. "We can all go to the party, too."

"Um…" said Téa, sheepishly. "I can't. I just committed myself to… another event tomorrow night."

"You're missing the Clock Tower Park Halloween Bash?" asked Yugi, surprised. "But, Téa… You've never missed that in all the years I've known you! It's the kickoff to the Fall Festival; are you sure you can't make it?"

"Yeah, Téa," agreed Joey, temporarily forgetting about Duke and Serenity. "You don't _really_ wanna miss the Zombie Jamboree, do you?"

"I sort of forgot when I agreed to go to the dinner party…" Téa trailed off, realizing she had said too much. "I'll see you guys later, I guess; I have to get back to rehearsal…"

"Dinner party…?" Joey repeated, as Téa walked away. "Guys, there's something going on here; she's trying to hide something—I just know it!"

"Joey, you're letting your mind run off on empty again…" said Tristan. "Someone just asked her out for the evening."

"And we're going to find out who!" the blond youth replied, eagerly rubbing his hands together.

"Joey, no," said Yugi, slapping his forehead. "You remember what happened the last time we tried tailing Téa, don't you? She'll be furious if she catches us again."

"So we make sure that she doesn't," Joey replied, smirking. "Bakura, I need you to keep an eye on Serenity while I commence with the stakeout!"

"Um… sure…?" the fair-haired boy replied, confused.

"I think I'd better go with you, Joey," said Yugi. "Téa will find it more difficult to be livid if I'm there, too."

"And you can count me in," mused Mai. "Something tells me that I don't want to miss this…"

* * *

The next day came and went by so quickly; Téa's mind was hardly with her as she oversaw the recital. She hardly registered what Tristan was saying about the psychic shop being closed that day. And she didn't have a clue as to what Joey was planning, and that all five of them would end up convening at the address.

She sat silently as the taxi pulled up to her destination, wearing the yellow-orange evening gown that she had received over the summer. She loved and loathed this gown at the same time; it was the only evening gown she owned, which was why she hadn't thrown it out, but it carried unpleasant memories of the time when she had been tricked and manipulated by Rare Hunters over the summer. Kayser, the crooked dance troupe leader (and Rare Hunter), had given her this gown to wear at a meet-and-greet in Chicago. Upon her return to Domino, she had shoved the dress away in a closet, unable to look at it, but also unable to throw it out.

With a sigh, she departed the cab, waiting for Seto to arrive; he had promised to pay for the cab fare.

"There she is…" said Joey, looking rather uncomfortable in the three-piece suit that he was wearing. "Man, I can't believe I had to wear this straightjacket again…"

"Joey, this is a dinner party, not a Halloween bash; wearing these will be the only way we have a chance of sneaking in uninvited," said Mai, looking surprisingly elegant in a lavender evening gown of her own. Her eyes fell upon the garlic breadstick that Joey was eating. "And I don't think you'll be allowed in trailing crumbs all over the place like that."

"Eh… No one will notice," the blond youth replied, brushing the crumbs off of his suit.

"I still say that we shouldn't even be doing this," said Yugi, also in a suit. "I think we should be able to trust Téa's judgment. She escaped from Rare Hunters over the summer; I think she knows what's she's doing."

"Yeah, well… if things stay this dull, we probably can just leave without…" Joey trailed off, his eyes widening in disbelief as Seto, wearing a navy-blue suit, emerged from his limo and strode over to Téa. Joey's lungs quadrupled in size as he drew in the breath for his astounded yell. "KAI--!?"

Yugi and Mai had seen it coming; they clamped their hands over Joey's mouth, forcing him away and out of sight as Seto and Téa glanced behind them.

"What was that you were saying about Téa's judgment?" asked Mai, quite stunned by what she was seeing.

"Well…" said Yugi, flustered. "Well, we don't know the whole story…"

Seto, upon deciding that he had been hearing things, turned back to Téa.

"I suppose I should thank you for showing up," he said.

"There were places I'd have rather gone to on Halloween night," Téa admitted. "I suppose I can assume that this is, in no way, shape, or form, a date?"

"You'd assume correctly," Seto replied, confirm what she had thought the previous night. "However, I don't see what good it would do in either circumstance if we stood outside here."

Téa nodded, following Seto inside the lavish building.

"There," said Yugi. "Kaiba just needed to have someone accompanying him; it's not a date at all."

Mai glanced at the younger duelist in amusement.

"Don't you believe it…" she mused, quietly. She made a mental note to have a long talk with Téa after tonight.

Joey finally freed himself from Yugi and Mai.

"The world is turning upside-down!" he yelled, causing a well-dressed pair of businesspeople to glance at him with raised eyebrows as they walked past. "That was Kaiba with Téa—_our_ Téa! Where did she go so wrong, Yugi!? Where!? And I thought Duke and Serenity together was bad--"

"Joey, wake up, Hon," said Mai, actually sounding sympathetic. "You can't choose these things for them. And besides, Yugi is probably right; those two didn't look like they were all that close. I think this is just a casual get-together."

"Well, I know what I think!" said Joey. "We need to get in there and keep an eye on those two, and make sure that it stays that way!"

"We're chaperoning Kaiba and Téa…?" Yugi asked in disbelief, as they followed Joey into the hall of the building. How on Earth had their circle of friends had come to this?

"Well, I'll say this much," said Mai, with approval. "This place looks more like a mansion than a businessman's headquarters. Whoever owns this place must have a lot of money to throw."

"And I'm guessing that he's the one who's throwing it," said Yugi, indicating the silver-haired man who was greeting Seto and Téa. He was wearing a jet-black suit with a matching violet-lined cape.

"_That's_ a fashion statement you don't see everyday…" said Mai, her eyes as wide as dinner plates.

"Never mind that," said Joey. "We have to get past him to get inside. How do we do that…?"

Yugi glanced at the marble staircase at the far left of the hall.

"We can dash up there for now and look around; I want to find out who that guy is," he said. "I don't think I've ever seen him before, but if he's meeting with Kaiba, then he must be involved with game design somehow."

"Good idea," said Mai. "We can sneak back into the party a bit later."

The three inched their way towards the staircase before practically flying up the marble steps. Graf von Krolock paused at the sound, glancing at the staircase in suspicion.

"What is it, Johan?" asked a brunette woman in a red dress, taking her place by his side.

"Perhaps it is nothing…" he said, his eyes narrowing. "But let me take this moment to introduce you to Seto Kaiba and Téa Gardner." He turned to the younger duo. "My friends, this is my wife, Sarah."

"Look," said Seto. "Are all these introductions really necessary? You told me that I'd get see a demonstration of your new holographic system. I'm not here for dining and dancing; I'm here to see results."

"All in good time, Kaiba," said von Krolock. "Not everyone has arrived just yet, but you are more than welcome to talk amongst my other guests. Ah, and here come more of them now…"

Seto and Téa both turned and were astounded to see three familiar faces heading towards them.

"Alister?" asked Seto, incredulously, as he, Valon, and Raphael said their hellos to von Krolock and Sarah. He exchanged a slightly baffled glance with Téa, who shrugged in reply.

"We are the representatives for Industrial Illusions," said Valon, presenting von Krolock with a business card. "Maximillion Pegasus was unable to attend, and so he sent us in his stead."

"I know that voice!" whispered Mai, edging back towards the staircase to get a glimpse of him. "Why would Pegasus send Valon!?"

"Who cares?" Joey replied, frowning.

"You know, Joey, if I didn't know you any better, I'd say that you were jealous…" Mai smirked.

"Now why would I be jealous of Valon, just because he has cool shades and a motorcycle?" asked Joey. "Top Grunge has those things, but you've never asked if I was jealous of _him_!"

"I would hope you wouldn't be jealous of a thief," said Yugi, his eyebrows raised at the comparison.

"Well… you know what I mean…" muttered Joey, turning his attention back to the bikers.

"So…" said Valon, glancing from Seto to Téa as von Krolock and Sarah spoke with Alister and Raphael. "You two finally on a date?"

"Not at all," Seto replied, flatly. "I was apparently requested to not come alone."

"Really?" asked the brunet. "We were never told anything like that. Well, we don't know what the exact words are; we never actually saw the letter that Pegasus received."

"You mean he just sent you three here, just like that?" asked Téa. "And he didn't even explain a thing?"

"That isn't like Pegasus at all," said Seto, a frown etching deeper into his face. "Normally, he can't get enough of these social gatherings."

"You've, er… hit the nail on the head," said Valon, lowering his voice so that von Krolock would not be able to hear him. "Pegasus never got a chance to reply to the letter that von Krolock sent him. You know that recent report about a disappearance in San Francisco?"

"_No_!" gasped Téa, her eyes wide.

Valon nodded, solemnly as Yugi, Joey, and Mai, who could hear every word, exchanged glances.

"Vanished right from his room in the middle of the night," he said. "Croquet showed up the next morning to offer him breakfast in bed… but he was completely gone."

"So that was Pegasus who vanished…?" said Seto, deep in thought. "Either he's pulling some sort of crazy stunt again, or--"

"But if Pegasus was planning something, he would've at least told _someone_ about it," said Téa.

"That's what has Croquet so worried," agreed Valon. "And we've all been trying our hardest not to let anyone know that it was Pegasus who vanished; there'd be an uproar."

"But you said that he vanished after receiving the invitation from von Krolock?" asked Seto, glancing at the silver-haired man.

"That's what happened," the brunet agreed. "I don't know if he got a chance to read the letter or not, but…" He trailed off, shrugging.

"I see…" the blue-eyed youth replied. He turned to Téa. "Gardner, I need you to cover for me while I take a look around."

"Do you really think that Pegasus would be _here_?" she asked.

"I don't know, but if von Krolock has something to do with his disappearance, it is possible," Seto replied. "Use your intellect; I'm sure you can come up with something."

"Kaiba, I can't hold him off forever!" she said. "I can give you ten to fifteen minutes… twenty, tops."

"I'll take what I can get," he replied, slipping from the entrance hall and into the maze of darkened corridors. He passed by the lit-up ballroom; undoubtedly, the festivities were going on in there, but Seto could care less.

"There he goes again," said Mai, having watched the scene from the top of the stairs. "Maybe we should make his job easier by checking out upstairs."

"Good idea," said Yugi. "If he comes up here, we can tell him that we already looked around."

"Once he gets over the fact that we're here…" Joey pointed out, taking another bite out of his breadstick. "But at least Téa's on her own; maybe we should tell her--"

"Joey, we're not even supposed to be here!" chided Mai.

"Look out!" exclaimed Yugi, pulling them both out of sight as von Krolock's gaze scanned the stairwell again. The silver-haired man could sense that something was amiss; his expression turned dark as the faint smell of breadstick reached him. With a slight recoil of disgust, he steered Sarah away from the marble steps, continuing his conversation with the bikers in the middle of the hall as he watched the stairwell out of the corner of his eye.

Seto, in the meantime, was silently walking through the darkened corridors with nothing but a small penlight to guide him. Old portraits lined the walls, the painted eyes of people following him with every step as the leering windows of a lighthouse seascape seemed to taunt him. Magnificently carved pedestals were scattered amongst the wider regions of the passageways, each one holding either an antique vase or a sculpture of multicolored, hand-molded glass.

"_So… he's an art collector?_" the young man asked himself. He blinked in surprise as one of the passageways led him to a dead end, ending at a fully-stocked bookcase, the books' spines showing signs of wear and use. "_And a book collector, too…?_"

His hand reached towards one of the books, wondering what sort of literature the silver-haired businessman collected. His fingertips were only an inch from the spine of a book bound in red-dyed leather when he felt a heavy blow upon the back of his head.

He didn't even have the time to cry out as the bookcase came up to meet him. The penlight slipped from his grasp, breaking as it struck the ground. But the young CEO's world had already gone dark.


	4. The Dinner Party, part II

Téa was beginning to get concerned when Seto did not return after the fifteen minutes. Von Krolock was still in conversation with the three bikers, and so she quietly slipped away in search of him. Certain that he would not be at the party, she followed the same darkened corridor that he had gone through, marveling at the paintings and sculptures.

In the meantime, Seto's assailant took a step towards the unconscious CEO, her long, white-blonde hair falling over her shoulders. She, too, was wearing an evening gown for the night's occasion, but she was also wearing a satisfied smirk.

"I've said it before," she purred. "You're too shrewd for your own good."

She knelt beside the unconscious CEO. She was in a position that could easily allow her to get him out of her way for good. But no… he was much more useful here, at the moment.

She slipped a piece of paper into the youth's hand as a voice called out from down the hall.

"Kaiba? Kaiba, are you here?"

The woman beside Seto scowled as Téa approached. She gently touched the red leather book—the one that Seto had nearly placed his hand upon. The bookcase shifted, revealing an opening through which the woman made her escape. The bookcase slid back in place an instant before Téa arrived. She gasped as the flashlight beam fell upon Seto.

"Kaiba!?" she exclaimed. She knelt beside him now, trying to revive him. He seemed alright, save for the blow to his head.

Seto couldn't hear her at first as he began the process of awakening. Instead he was hearing the same whisper in his mind that he had heard in his room that night. Shaking it off as an aftereffect from the blow, he decided to ignore it as Téa's voice became clearer.

Seto finally rose up to his knees, glaring at Téa as he noticed her.

"What happened, Gardner? You were supposed to cover for me."

"That's just what I _was_ doing!" she snapped. "But you didn't show up!"

"And neither of our gracious hosts left the hall?"

"No… why?"

Seto glared at her.

"What do you think—I fell over on my own?" he asked, sardonically. "Someone attacked me from behind."

"Well, it wasn't either of the von Krolocks; they were talking to Valon and the others," said Téa.

"Well, _someone_ here has something against me, not that that's new…" Seto said, trailing off as he noticed the paper in his hand. He unfolded it with a frown. "What's this?"

Téa shined the flashlight on the paper, revealing only two words written in red ink.

"_Loxosceles kaiba_," Téa read. "Well, that doesn't make any sense at all. And I wonder why they didn't capitalize your name."

Seto stared at the note, frowning. It looked completely unfamiliar to him. Was Loxosceles a person, and was this, perhaps, the calling card of the person who attacked him? But Téa was right; why wasn't his name capitalized, though the writer of the note had seen to it that "Loxosceles" was?

"Well, it looks like we've got another mystery on our hands," said Téa, with a sigh. "But after solving the case of the Morse code dancing, this shouldn't be too difficult; we have to home advantage this time."

Seto merely deadpanned. Clearly, he saw no advantaged to getting clobbered, only to awaken with a cryptic clue in his hand.

"Let's just get back to the dinner before we're missed," he said at last.

* * *

"I don't see anything here," said Mai, as she, Yugi, and Joey began searching the upstairs rooms. "If this von Krolock is up to something, he's certainly hiding it well. Did you guys find anything?"

"Nothing, aside from a lot of artwork and modern art sculptures," said Yugi. "Whoever he is, he must be wealthy to afford it all."

"Well, you know from Kaiba how rich these guys can get," said Joey. "I'll bet that Kaiba has enough money to turn his manor into the next Louvre. He could care less, though—that's why it isn't one already."

"Kaiba, an art connoisseur…?" mused Mai, smirking at the image.

"Hold on…" said Yugi, knocking against a panel of the wall. "This part of the wall sounds hollow. There must be some way to open this panel…"

Mai glanced at one of the paintings on the walls, frowning. It was an oil painting of the artist himself, but she noticed that the frame looked crooked when compared to the others.

"This painting is off-center," she said aloud.

"Yeah, you're right," said Joey, tilting his head slightly to see the proper alignment of the painting.

Yugi glanced up; something about the tilted painting intrigued him.

"Guys, can you help me take it down?" he asked.

"What!?" asked Mai, stunned. "Yugi, I thought we…" She trailed off, deciding to go along with the idea. Silently, the three friends removed the portrait from the wall. "Well, what do you know…?"

A section of the panel was sunk into the wall slightly.

"So who wants to do the honors?" asked Yugi.

"Allow me!" said Joey, pressing down on the switch.

There was a slight creak as the panel of wall swung in, revealing a secret room. However, the room looked nothing like the rest of the luxurious mansion. The part of the house they had seen so far had been marble and granite, painstakingly polished and maintained, but this room had walls of old, ill-maintained wood. However, footprints were visible in the layer of dust on the floor, and the desk in the middle of the room was dust-free and held several sheets of paper, illuminated by a moonbeam that shone from the open window.

"Well, that's… weird…" Joey stated.

"Not the most eloquently put, but he has a point," agreed Mai. "This room is clearly in use, so why wasn't it redone with all the glitz and glamour that the rest of the place has?"

"Maybe these will tell us the answer," said Yugi, glancing at the papers on the table. To his surprise, they were mostly handwritten invoices about NightWing Enterprises, along with product details and meeting dates. The previous day's meeting with Seto had been documented.

"This must be his home office," said Joey. "Weird place for it, though… Why wouldn't he use one of the nicer rooms instead of this place?"

"Maybe he wanted it hidden from the rest of the house," said Mai. "If I had a home office, I wouldn't want uninvited guest dropping in; I'd hide it behind a secret panel, too."

"Not much of a secret; _we_ figured it out, didn't we?" the blond boy asked.

"Hasn't anyone else noticed something strange about these invoices?" asked Yugi, going over them.

Mai and Joey glanced over his shoulder.

"Well, they seem to be in order," said Mai. "No suspicious transactions, or anything of the sort…"

"And von Krolock's handwriting is pretty good," added Joey.

"That's just it!" exclaimed Yugi. "Look—every single one of these documents is handwritten!"

"Yeah… so what does it mean?" asked Joey.

"Why would the head of a company handwrite every single official document and invoice?" asked Yugi. "Why wouldn't he use a computer for convenience and efficiency?"

"Maybe they're just not his forte?" offered the blond youth.

Mai frowned.

"Yugi has a point," she said. "How could this von Krolock work as a CEO without using computers at all? How does he keep in touch with his employees and clients? He couldn't possibly run this show by himself…"

She trailed off as flapping of wings was heard, and the three turned to see a large bat fly in from the window and land on a perch beside the desk. It hung upside-down, glancing at them with its beady eyes.

"Looks like he has a pet…" remarked Yugi.

"Something isn't right here," said Joey, frowning at the bat. "I'm certain that's the same bat I saw two nights ago when I was pulling that all-nighter…"

"You mean the bet with Tristan that you lost anyway…?" Mai teased, unable to resist.

"Yeah, that…" Joey grumbled. "But, seriously… This guy flew by my window, landed in the same tree where Delphi was, and scared her half out of her wits. I'd never seen a bat this huge."

"Well, let's just leave him alone for now," said Yugi. "I want to see if there are any more secret panels in this floor."

They slipped out of the door, the bat watching them from its perch.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Cairo, Marik Ishtar had been pulling an all-nighter of his own. He, of course, hadn't been interested in video games at all; he was going over the photographs of the odd Anubis medallion and researching book after book, trying to figure out what on earth it signified. He gathered that it was created during the reign of Lord Sethos, probably by a disgruntled enemy, intended to be a curse. But the exact details of the curse were still unknown to him.

He sighed. One thing was certain, though; the others should get the medallion out of their possession as soon as possible. The images chilled him every time he looked into the ruby eyes of the jackal-headed creature… and that was just a photograph. The real thing would be undoubtedly worse.

Marik yawned. Right now, he was the only one in the library, having stayed behind after closing time; he had purposefully chosen this time and location, knowing that he did not want to be disturbed in the middle of his research. And he had read and researched all through the night.

"_And for all that work, I've only found vague information_," he thought, sending Yugi an email with what little details he had learned.

He gathered up the photographs and books. The library would be opening soon, and he felt as though that the less who knew about the odd medallion, the better it would be.

Carrying the stack of books and references under his arm, he headed for home. he was surprised to see the door ajar as he approached.

"Ishizu? Odion?"

There was no reply. Surely they wouldn't still be sleeping now! They were both early risers and would have been having breakfast at this time. But when he glanced into the breakfast nook, it was empty.

Puzzled, Marik took the books to keep them in his room, but he stopped short upon seeing an unconscious figure lying in the corridor. The books fell from his arms as he stared, horrified.

"Odion!" he cried, rushing to his adopted brother's side. "Odion, what happened!? Who did this to you!?"

The older man stirred, beginning to come to.

"Marik…?" he asked, shaking the cobwebs from his mind. "Are you alright?"

"Me? I was not the one unconscious!" the younger youth replied. "What happened?"

"I am not sure," Odion replied. "You didn't see anyone when you entered?"

"Not at all," said Marik. "The door was opened, and I thought it was strange, but I didn't think that it foreshadowed something so terrible. Someone must have come in; they attacked you! Did you see who it was?"

"No…" Odion said, suppressing a shudder. "Marik, this… entity, or whoever or whatever it was… It did not leave just like that."

"What are you saying?" asked Marik, sensing that he would not like the news.

The older man pointed to Ishizu's room.

"I had come here to check on our sister," he said. "But the room was empty when I arrived, and then I felt the blow descend upon me."

He didn't need to go on; Marik knew exactly what had happened. Ishizu had vanished—the next victim of the mysterious disappearances.


	5. The Dinner Party, part III

Seto and Téa returned to the banquet hall, discussing the case.

"Any one of those creeps could be the one who knocked me out," Seto muttered, glaring at the guests in suspicion.

"Well, I can tell you one thing," said Téa. "You were probably knocked out by a woman."

Seto glanced at her, eyebrows arched.

"How can you tell?"

"Just before I found you, I could've sworn I heard high heels running away, though I didn't see anyone."

"Wonderful," snarled the CEO. "So I have to find out which of these ladies is my Mysterious Woman?" He glanced around the room. "I guess I should be grateful that you've narrowed it down for me."

"You should be," she replied. "But I'm not going to hold my breath for it."

"Hold that thought," Seto replied, folding his arms. "I think I just found my prime suspect. Anyone in particular looking familiar to you, Gardner…?"

"Well…" she said, looking around. "There're a lot of businesspeople I don't know; I'd figure that you would be the first one who'd be able to recognize…" She trailed off, noticing the blonde-haired woman who was in a black evening gown, and was in deep conversation with her longtime lackey, Chenston Travencore. "Isn't that…?"

"Aranea Vulsor," Seto finished for her. "I think that explains a lot, doesn't it?"

"I heard that she was released from prison," said Téa, frowning. "I guess she's back to her old ways if she's knocking you senseless."

"We'll have a hard time proving that it was her," the CEO said. "But maybe we can catch her off-guard…"

He walked over to the two of them, clearing his throat.

"Why, if it isn't Seto Kaiba…" Vulsor purred, noticing him. "And his tiny dancer friend… What would bring you to speak to me? Don't tell me that you actually want to go along with that business proposition I proposed back in the spring?"

"Save it," Seto growled. "You tried to kill me!"

"On the contrary, my objective was never to have you be bitten by the funnel web spider," she said, smirking. "That honor should've gone to your girlfriend. What's this I hear about a kiss on the rooftop of the Paris Opera House?"

Neither Seto nor Téa were going to give her the pleasure of a reply to the latter remark.

"What are you two doing here, anyway?" Téa asked.

"We are businesspeople, and we were invited to this supposed hologram demonstration," said Vulsor. "If anything, I should be asking you why _you're_ here; you're no businesswoman."

"Never mind her," said Seto. "What do you know about--?"

He never got a chance to finish his question; von Krolock crossed to the middle of the room and began to address them.

"It honors me, Ladies and Gentlemen, that you decided to grace me with your presence here tonight," he said. "I understand that some of you are here to see for yourself the wonders of my latest project?"

"Right you are!" exclaimed Valon, getting into the spirit of things.

Raphael and Alister rolled their eyes.

"Then it goes to show that my creation is a success," said von Krolock. "For you have already been convinced."

Seto's eyebrows arched as the other guests exchanged bewildered glances.

"Yes, my friends," the silver-haired man went on. "Nearly everything you have seen here tonight has been an illusion created by the simulator." He held a control device in his hand. "Watch; I will now stop the projectors."

He pressed a button on the controller, and the room plunged to a dim, torch-lit room; there were no working electric lights anywhere, though the manor had seemed to be grandly lit. And the grand manor itself was grand no longer—the lavishly-decorated walls and granite floors were rotten wood. And the priceless paintings and sculptures now had a thick coating of dust on them.

"I don't believe it…" said Raphael, amazement evident in his voice.

"I think we all agree," said Alister, dryly.

Valon just stood with his jaw open.

Even Vulsor gasped, her eyes wide in shock and wonder.

"All this time, we've been in this… old ruin!?" she shrieked.

"That's right," said von Krolock. "This old wooden house was abandoned nearly a hundred and fifty years ago. Everything you saw was a mere embellishment, provided by my holographic system. Convincing, was it not?"

Vulsor froze, glancing at her hand under the light of a torch mounted on the wall. It was covered with a coating of dust. She quickly blew it off of her hand before Seto could notice; she succeeded, but the scattered dust now caused her to sneeze, causing Seto and Téa to glance at her.

"Are your allergies getting to you?" Seto smirked. "I wonder where you would get that much dust on your hand… Perhaps from grabbing something to knock someone out, without realizing how old it really was…?"

Vulsor shot him a dark look.

"I had my hand resting on this endtable," she said, coldly. "Come on, Travencore…"

She stalked off with Travencore following close behind her, and Téa was pleased to see her retreat.

"That showed her," she said. "And that dust on her hand proves that she was the one who attacked you."

"Not that there was ever much doubt to begin with," Seto replied, his expression deadpan. "Unfortunately, I still don't know what this '_Loxosceles'_ thing is she slipped into my hand. Knowing her, it's probably something intended to distract me from her true motives." He crumpled the note and tossed it aside. "And I will not allow that to happen."

"Of course not…" sighed Téa.

* * *

Yugi, Joey, and Mai had still been searching the floor when the holographic illusion had ended, plunging the entire floor into darkness; there weren't as many torches lit here as there were downstairs, but there was just enough light to see that the rest of the house was now made of the same ill-maintained wood that had been present in the hidden room that they had found. The antiquities and portraits were still where they were before, but they, too, were now covered in dust.

Mai let out a groan of disgust as she saw the dust on her hands; it had undoubtedly come from moving the painting that had hidden the switch.

"Oh, the cleaners are just going to _love_ us…" said Joey, sarcastically as he looked at the dust that now covered his suit, along with the breadstick crumbs. "What now, Guys?"

"Well, since we're already covered in dust, it wouldn't hurt to keep looking," said Yugi, with a shrug, still trying to figure out how this illusion had been created. "I just can't believe that everything we saw was fake—even the lighting! Something really weird is going on."

"Something really weird is _always_ going on in Domino," said Mai, wondering if this had something to do with Madam Mystíca's disappearance. She let out a good-natured sigh. "Well, I'm already covered in dust; there's no point in being vain and refusing to go on with the search. Lead on, Boys."

"Mai, you're one in a million," said Joey.

The other rooms now looked just like the hidden room—old and dusty, and made of antique wood.

"I never even knew about this old place," said Yugi. "I mean, I knew there were abandoned houses up here; Grandpa always warned me to stay away from this area when I was a kid… But I just never knew about this particular place. And I wonder if this art collection was here even then…"

"Hey, here's something…" said Joey, picking up an old piece of paper. "On second thoughts, never mind; I can't see a thing. The light's too dim. Ah, well…" He folded up the paper and slipped it into his pocket.

After a while, they reached what seemed to be a dead end, but Yugi wasn't so sure.

"That hidden room was accessible over there at that end of the hall; I think there might be another one on this end," he theorized. "These old houses usually have networks of passageways…"

The three of them inspected the expense of wall.

"I think I found the switch!" said Joey, feeling a portion of the dusty wall that was indented.

He pressed down on the switch, and the secret door opened with a creak. But before any of them could get a glimpse of the hidden room and its contents, a flock of large bats emerged from within the room.

"Vampires!" Joey yelled without thinking. He tore back down the corridor, heading down the stairs.

"Joey, no!" Yugi called out after him.

"We're not supposed to be here!" Mai called, as well.

"And there's no lighting on the stair--" Yugi began, but he was cut off by another yell from Joey and a crashing sound. "Oh, no…"

"Oh, man…" Joey groaned, trying to pick himself up. Fortunately, he had been a good way down the staircase before he had tripped, so although he was now sprawled out at the foot of the stairs, he wasn't hurt.

But the crash and the yell had been heard by everyone in the dinner party. The guests, with von Krolock in the lead, arrived almost immediately to see Joey there, his suit now covered with another coating of dust.

Téa's eyes widened, while Seto was determined to give no sign of recognition to the blond youth. Vulsor, however, bit back a smirk. And the bikers were still trying to come to grips with what they were seeing.

"I thought I heard someone wandering about upstairs," von Krolock said, his expression cold. "On your feet, Boy!" He glanced back up the stairway. "And if there is anyone else upstairs, you may as well come down now while I'm still in possession of my patience!"

Yugi and Mai sheepishly came down the stairs (Valon abandoning all anonymity and trying to get Mai's attention), and Téa was fighting the urge to slap her forehead. But Seto was now glaring at her.

"I didn't tell them a thing!" she whispered to the visibly annoyed CEO. "They must've followed me here!"

"Did you enjoy your tour of the upper floor, Gentlemen—and Lady?" asked the silver-haired man. "You chose the right time to come crashing down the stairs—the party has come to a close. You may leave with the others, and be grateful that I am feeling particularly benevolent tonight."

The guests began to disperse, though von Krolock stopped Seto before he could leave with Téa. For a moment, Seto was worried that he might ask if he knew the other members of the geek squad, but, thankfully, that wasn't the older man's query.

"The holographic simulator was impressive, was it not?"

"I'll give credit where credit is due," said Seto, with a brusque nod. "It was very convincing. Perhaps we can discuss a contract some other time."

"As you wish," said von Krolock. "I bid you both a good night."

Seto and Téa left the old building; they hadn't gone far when they met up with Yugi, Joey, and Mai. Seto's eyes narrowed.

"OK, before you say anything--" Joey began.

"Wheeler, go away," Seto replied, glaring at him. "You made a compete fool of yourself tonight… not that that's anything new for you, of course."

"Well, if Téa had just told us--"

"Excuse me!?" the brunette dancer asked, glaring at her friend. "Joey, did you honestly expect me to tell you that I was spending the evening with Kaiba? You'd have hit the roof!"

"He would've when he saw you two together," said Mai, dryly. "But we were outside…"

"Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you--"

"It's okay, Téa," said Yugi, trying to give an understanding smile.

"You four can discuss this all you like," said Seto. "I, for one, am going home. Good night, Gardner."

He walked away, heading for where he had kept his limo waiting for him.

Téa sighed, glancing at the others.

"It's not what it seems," she said. "He just needed someone to accompany him tonight--"

"Believe me," said Mai, with a smile. "We… well, _I_ understand completely."

Joey rolled his eyes, but before he could reply, Téa's cell phone began to ring.

"Téa, this is Tristan… I don't have time to explain this, but you and the others need to get to the festival right away."

He had hung up without waiting for a reply.


	6. Family Ties

"Well, you heard him," said Mai. "We need to get to that festival."

"And I know how…" said Joey, running after Seto. "Kaiba! Kaiba, can you--?"

"No."

"You didn't even give me a chance to ask!"

"After that scene you created, be thankful that I'm still willing to admit that I know you," Seto retorted.

"Kaiba, something's happened at the Festival," said Téa. "Please, can't you give us a ride?"

Seto glanced at her, and, after what seemed like an eternity, relented.

Mai bit back a smirk. She knew exactly why he had done it, but knew that he would never admit it.

"So what exactly is this emergency that requires such urgent attention?" asked Seto, as the chauffer drove them towards the festival grounds.

"Tristan didn't say," said Téa. "That's why I'm so worried…"

"Wait a minute…" said Joey. "Serenity was with him…" He clenched a fist. "If he's let anything happen to my sister, I'll--"

"There's no use blaming someone else, Wheeler," said Seto. "You should've been at the festival with her instead of trying to tail us at the business dinner."

"Some business dinner that was, though," said Mai. "It was all just a giant set-up to show off that realistic looking holographic system."

"But we all fell for it; even Vulsor fell for it," said Téa.

"Vulsor!?" Joey, Yugi, and Mai all asked in unison.

"She was right there; you didn't notice her?" the dancer asked.

"Of course not; they were too busy falling down the stairs," Seto said, with a smirk. "Apparently, she was invited."

"I can't believe they let her out of prison," said Mai. "What happened?"

"She won her appeal," said Seto. "According to the article that Mokuba showed me, she had a rather influential friend in Colorado who helped her get out. She apparently spent the last couple weeks at her home in San Francisco, trying to figure out what happened to her uncle, who was the victim of an alleged accident…"

"Yeah, right," said Joey. "She probably orchestrated that 'accident' from prison."

"…And she apparently got engaged," Seto went on.

"What!?" asked Mai. "You're kidding! What poor, misguided soul would agree to marry _her_!?"

"Some young man she met," said Seto. "He apparently got cold feet and wanted to call off the engagement, but Vulsor insists that there will be a wedding."

"Poor guy…" said Yugi. "She won't let him go?"

"I don't know," said Seto. "And quite frankly, I don't care; she's giving me too much trouble for me to worry about the trouble she's giving to someone else."

"You're all heart," Joey said, sarcastically. "You know, if it was me…"

He trailed off as they arrived at the festival grounds. What normally would've been a bustling and lively Halloween bash was a chaotic mess. Tents and canvas were strewn everywhere, along with spilled food and candy. People were running around all over the place, not only ignoring the mess, but adding to it.

"Looks like the Halloween Bash got bashed…" Joey said at last, emerging from the limo. "Serenity? Serenity, where are you!?"

"I'm right here, Joey!" a familiar voice called.

Serenity arrived with Tristan, Duke, and Bakura in tow, as well as a familiar dark-haired fisherman.

"Mako…?" Yugi asked.

"Indeed!" the young seafarer grinned. "My search for my father led me back to Domino…" His smile faded slightly. "I thought I might find something to do at the festival, but found trouble instead…"

"What sort of trouble?" asked Joey, glancing back to his sister.

"We're fine," she insisted, before anyone could say anything else. "But there was a monster here! A _real_ monster…!"

"It _is_ Halloween," said Mai. "Are you sure it wasn't just some crazy prank that got out of control?"

"I'm afraid not, my friends," said a familiar voice, accompanied by a chattering capuchin.

"Madame Mystíca!" exclaimed Yugi. "You're alright!"

"Indeed I am," she replied, Delphi sitting patiently on her shoulder. A young trenchcoat-clad man was hovering behind her with a notebook and pencil in hand and a worried expression on his face.

"We were so worried about you; we thought you had vanished like all of those other cases…" said Téa, with a relieved shake of her head. "But wait… You mean there _was_ a real monster here?"

"According to my investigation, there was," said the young man, who had been standing behind Mystíca all this time.

"It wasn't like a Duel Monster," said Tristan. "It was more like a wraith…"

"Probably just a hologram," said Seto.

"No," said Bakura, suppressing a shudder. "It wasn't a hologram or a wraith; she was solid…"

"At first there was this thick fog; far worse than any of the coastal fogs I've ever seen," said Mako, with a frown. "And then she just emerged from within it."

"It was as real as it could've been," added Duke. "She had this long black hair with white streaks, kinda like Lily Munster. But it was her face that really creeped us out… She had this skeletal face. And she wasn't wearing a mask, either."

"It was a banshee," said the investigator, without flickering an eyelid.

"Madame Mystíca helped us all get away before that thing could get us," added Serenity.

"I still say that it must've been a trick," insisted Seto. "Designed to cause insane confusion… and apparently succeeding."

"That's all it ever is to you," muttered Joey. He turned back to Mystíca. "Thanks for looking out for my sister."

"It was very fortunate that I was here," said the psychic, visibly worried. "I am sorry if my leave of absence concerned you; I was having a long series of family discussions with my daughter these past several days, which demanded my attention."

"Oh, I didn't know you have a daughter!" exclaimed Téa.

"Do not concern yourself with that now," said Mystíca. Seto frowned; she seemed to be very keen on changing the subject. "I am more concerned with what that banshee was after; it ties in to that note I sent you."

"You mean she wanted something?" asked Yugi. "She wasn't just wandering around because it was Halloween?"

"From what I gathered," said the investigator. "She showed up searching for a pendant that she claimed rightfully belonged to her… She claimed that she could sense its presence in this town." He trailed off. "It was an Egyptian medallion…"

Seto's eyes narrowed.

"And I suppose it had Anubis on it?" the CEO asked.

The young man shrugged and leafed through his notes.

"According to a mix of my own research, along with the information from a reliable source…" he went on. "After the Nameless Pharaoh appointed Sethos as his successor, the new Pharaoh ruled well for a great many years. However, he did have one enemy… One of his advisors was a turncoat. This wicked man set about trying to create a series of magic pendants—one to counter each Millennium Item—to allow him to overthrow the Pharaoh. It was said that he received aid from Anubis."

"Why am I not surprised…?" Seto asked.

"In the battle that followed, four of the medallions were destroyed," the detective went on. "And the adviser was trapped within one of them. It's believed that part of Anubis's essence was sealed into the second one, and the third medallion holds the essence of Anubis's wife, Anput."

"Wife!?" asked Joey. "Man… Anubis has a wife, Vulsor's engaged… Where do these evil creeps find other evil creeps just like them?"

The detective's eyes flared for an instant.

"Don't jump to such conclusions," he said. "Anyway, I know for a fact that of the three medallions that survived, one of them has been destroyed. Only two remain—one with Anubis's essence, and one with Anput's. And this banshee once owned the Anubis medallion, which is why she's after it."

"How do you know all of this?" asked Yugi, amazed.

"I just flew in from Cairo," the detective explained. "I was investigating another disappearance there—a young woman; the victim's younger brother told me to relay this information to a kid with very wild hair in Domino…" The detective trailed off, glancing at Yugi. "I'm guessing you're the one."

"The younger brother of…" Yugi's eyes widened as he trailed off. "Wait! The lady who vanished… was her name Ishizu Ishtar!?"

"That's the one," the detective agreed. "He told me all about the backstory of the medallions. As for the ownership of the medallions…" He trailed off. "I've seen that banshee for myself. And it might interest you to know that she is the great-grandmother of that Vulsor lady you were mentioning, Dr. Meyrei Vulsor."

"Hold it right there," said Seto. "If you're expecting me to believe--"

"Wow, I guess nastiness runs in the family," said Joey, worrying about Ishizu. "I'm guessing that fiancé of hers is no good, too--"

"Watch it," the detective said, his eyes flaring again. "That's my brother and colleague you're talking about."

"Oh…" said Joey, chiding himself for putting his foot in his mouth.

"Vulsor is insisting on marrying him, and in spite of however much he says he wants out of it, she won't let him go."

"But why does she want to marry him if he doesn't even like her?" asked Yugi.

"Because he was the one who destroyed that third medallion," the detective said. "And she thinks he has one of the surviving two medallions, especially after that banshee tried to get her claws on him…"

"I wonder what Vulsor will say when she realizes that _I_ have one of the medallions," Seto smirked.

The detective glanced at Seto in amazement,

"Oh, so _you're_ the one that dancer kid was talking about…" he said.

"Dancer kid?" asked Seto.

"Yeah," said the young detective. "Some kid named Aurus Kayser told me that one of the medallions was in the possession of a CEO from Domino."

"Aurus...?" Téa asked, going rigid. The memory of how Aurus had betrayed her was still all too fresh in her mind.

"So what are you going to do?" asked Tristan.

"It's tough," the detective said. "We have this wedding problem, but it gets worse… A few of my colleagues have gone missing while investigating the missing people, and a good friend of mine was among them. We're just trying to keep everything from falling apart at this point. My brother and I have been traveling nonstop on this investigation while another friend of ours has been pulling all-nighters by his computer for days…"

"Doesn't that sound familiar…?" asked Duke, glancing pointedly at Seto, who decided to ignore him.

"But we have one lead," the detective said. "In every location where people have gone missing, witnesses say that odd strangers showed up in town before the disappearances. And after the victims vanished, the newcomers left town soon after."

"Odd strangers…?" asked Yugi, blinking in amazement. He turned back to Mystíca. "That's just like the note you sent us!"

"I don't want to jump to conclusions, but we do have a couple of odd strangers in town," said Mai, dryly.

"You mean the von Krolocks?" asked Joey. "I'm telling you, Guys… something's really up with those two. I mean… handwritten invoices…? But never mind about them… What's going to happen to the Ishtars!?"

The detective shrugged.

"We're trying to solve this mystery, but it's like nothing we've ever seen before. It isn't as though the disappearances are being restricted to one area; it's happening all over the world." He sighed, clearly upset at the load he was carrying. "The rest of the message that was to be relayed to you is that the remaining Ishtar siblings are on their way here now; I think they're hoping that there may be a link between Domino and their sister. Listen, I've got to get back and submit my report to my superiors, but I'm not off of this case. And if you guys are doing some investigating of your own, I think we'll be seeing each other again." He glanced at Seto. "And take my advice… Don't touch that medallion—for your own sake…"

He took his leave of them.

"Oh, poor Marik and Odion…" said Serenity. "I can only imagine what they must be going through…"

"Hold on for just a second," said Seto, turning to Joey. "Wheeler, what was that you were mentioning about handwritten invoices?"

"Kaiba, our friend has gone missing!" said Téa. "Can't you be a little sympathetic!?"

"I can be sympathetic," Seto replied. "I pity Marik, having to go through the stress and strain of a missing sibling. But tell me what we could possibly do this second that would help in any way, other than trying to figure out this mystery?"

Téa blinked.

"Good point…" she replied, and Seto smirked in reply.

"Well, that's just it, basically," said Joey. "We found a bunch of invoices that von Krolock filled out by hand. He didn't use a computer at all."

"That sure sounds like an odd stranger to me…" said Bakura.

"Oh, and he has pet bats," added the blond youth.

"And that sounds like Dracula," said Tristan, his eyebrows arched.

Seto didn't think too much about the bats, but he was clearly intrigued by the invoices, namely why they would've been kept in that ramshackle old manor when it had allegedly been intended for just a showcasing of the holograms.

"Dracula…?" Joey mused. "Oh, man; that's it! I can't believe I missed it; it was right in front of our faces the entire time! That's the only reason why he let us off so lightly for crashing his party…"

"What are you talking about!?" asked Mai.

"He's a vampire—he has to be!" the young man went on, prompting an eyeroll from most of the people present. "That's why he probably doesn't know a thing about computers! And because I ate that garlic breadstick, he didn't want to take me on, so he let us go!"

"I'll admit that he seemed a little weird," said Yugi. "But do you really think--?"

"I don't know," said Joey. "But I'm gonna find out."

"But be careful," Serenity said.

"Of course!"

"Well…" said Mako, biting back a smirk. "On that note, I think I'll see you tomorrow."

"Oh, you'll be in town?" asked Bakura.

"Yes; I heard a strong rumor that my father is on a boat that's heading here in a couple weeks' time," the fisherman replied. "I'm going to hold out on the hope that it's true…" He turned to Madame Mystíca. "Do you think you can give me a reading tomorrow and tell me if it's true?"

"Gladly," she replied. "I understand how it is to want to be reunited with the family you have lost."

"But you got to see your daughter again, didn't you?" asked Mai.

Madame Mystíca sighed.

"Just because I saw her again, it doesn't mean that I have been reunited," she said. "My daughter and I… We are not on good terms, you see. She does not consider me to be her mother anymore, but I felt it my duty to talk to her when I heard that she was coming into town."

"That's terrible," said Téa.

The psychic smiled wistfully.

"I see you, my dear, and I see what I wanted her to become: so innocent and friendly, and so full of life and love for friends."

"Maybe you should have her spend an evening with this motley crew," said Seto, still smirking. "They make it a policy to teach the values of friendship to everyone."

Madame Mystíca looked away.

"You have already met her; some of you saw her tonight," she replied. She removed her scarf to reveal her white-blonde hair. "My daughter is Aranea Vulsor."

* * *

Note: The concept of the Pharaoh's wicked adviser and the broken medallion were borrowed (with permission, of course) from LuckyLadybug.


	7. Dawn's Revelation

There was utter silence as the assembled duelists grasped ahold of the psychic's words.

"Your daughter!?" Joey yelled. "But… You can't be…! You're nice; you've helped us against her…"

"I disagree of my daughter's methods to glory," Madame Mystíca said. "And she has long since disowned me. That is why I helped you."

"Is there anything we can do…?" asked Yugi, quietly.

"You have done much already, my friends," the psychic said, with a wan smile.

"But I don't understand how…" Téa said. "How could she disown someone as sweet as you?"

"Oh, come on, Téa; you know how Vulsor is…" said Tristan.

"The Dronyche company she now runs used to be known as Capuchin Computers under me," she said. "However, my daughter saw fit to take the company from me in a fit of rebellion and retreated to her father's property in San Francisco. Fighting and arguing were useless, I realized, so I let her be."

"And you ended up here in Domino?" asked Bakura.

"That is correct," she said. "Aranea seems to have come here looking for a chance to take Kaiba Corporation, without even realizing that I was here, as well."

"She's still after my company…" Seto replied, his arms folded. "I realize that I've seen that detective before—the one who just left. He and his colleagues had alerted Mokuba and me that Vulsor had access to a data file of my stepfather's digital manifestation."

"Yes…" sighed Madame Mystíca. "My daughter's insistence on the wedding has gotten them more involved with my family than they wanted. And with the Rare Hunters, as well."

"What!?" asked Téa, her blood freezing.

"The Rare Hunters were last spotted in Tom's Cove on Chincoteague Island," she said. "They had fled by the time law enforcement arrived to apprehend them, though several stolen artifacts were recovered."

"Yeah, well…" said Joey. "Chincoteague is thousands and thousands of miles from here; we've got nothing to worry about, right?"

"Hold on…" said Yugi, deep in thought. "Are you saying that your daughter is somehow connected to the Rare Hunters?"

"While she isn't a member herself, she has friends who are; she has corresponded with Bandit Keith more than once, though she claims it was strictly business."

"Yeah, right…" Joey muttered.

"This isn't a coincidence," said Téa, pacing the area. "That detective was talking about Aurus knowing that Kaiba had the Anubis medallion…" She glanced at the CEO. "You still have it, right?"

"Of course, though it's of no use to me," Seto muttered. "I've been meaning to give it to your crew, but I don't have it on me."

"Maybe you shouldn't touch it," said Yugi, concerned. "If there is a curse--"

"It's most likely not even real," he replied. "Now if you don't mind, I need to attend to more important matters."

"Don't let the curses bite!" Joey called to him. And Seto gladly ignored him.

"Kaiba…!" Téa called to him. He paused for a moment, without looking back. "Thanks… for everything tonight…"

"It was nothing," he assured her, and, with that, retreated to his limo.

"…It was nothing, or it meant nothing?" Duke mused aloud.

"You still didn't tell us why you went to that party with Kaiba," said Joey. "How much did you pay him to take you?"

"Joey, he _asked_ me."

"Oh, right. He… what!?" the blond blinked.

"Well, as much as I would like to amuse myself with this banter, I must head to the docks for some late-night fishing before I return to the hotel," said Mako, taking his leave of them. And one by one, the others decided to leave, as well.

"You know, I think I should be getting back to Mom's," Serenity said.

"Great, I'll take you back," offered Tristan.

"Or I could," said Duke, cutting in front of him.

"Oh, no you don't!" said Joey. "_I'm_ taking her back. Téa, we can continue this tomorrow."

"Joey, she doesn't owe you any explanations," Mai said. "Come on, Téa; I'll walk with you while we're still heading in the same direction"

"Thanks," the girl sighed following her. "It's been a weird night."

"Which part…?" Mai mused aloud. "The mansion, the holograms, the upset here at the festival, or Kaiba asking you out?"

"All of it," Téa replied, with a shake of her head.

"So tell me about Kaiba…" Mai said. "You seem to have grown closer all of a sudden… Unless I'm more out of the loop than I realized."

"You aren't out of the loop, Mai," the brunette replied, instantly. "I told you about how that dance troupe was a front for the Rare Hunters…"

"It wasn't the whole story, was it?" Mai asked. "It's personal; I could tell from the way you reacted when you realized they were involved."

Téa paused and then gave a nod. She could tell Mai… She, of all people, would understand the nagging worries she had to deal with… And within the next several minutes, Téa told her all of the details she hadn't yet spoken to the others, wincing as she got to the part about Bandit Keith saying she was one of them just because of getting a drop of ink on the parchment.

"I know how poor Vulsor's fiancé must feel…" she said. "He's forced into this, just like Keith wants me to become a Rare Hunter."

Mai had been planning to say something about the revelation of the kiss that Téa had shared with Seto in Paris, but Téa's worries were much more concerning.

"Well," sighed Mai. "You know we're all here for you. Now I don't know how the Rare Hunters' initiation process works, but I'm sure that in a court of law, they can't hold you to a drop of ink…" She trailed off. The Rare Hunters never did have much regard for the law…

"You won't tell anyone, will you?" asked Téa.

"Of course not," Mai promised. "Not until you're ready to tell them yourself."

"Or until Keith comes to pick me up…" the dancer added, derisively.

"He'd be an idiot if he did," the older girl said. "You're not alone here, Téa; you have all of us. Even Kaiba would help you; he already proved that he would." _Unfortunately, Keith is probably moronic enough to try something_, she added to herself. "And no matter what happens, Téa, always hold on to a part of yourself." She sighed. "That was the mistake I made when I met Dartz. But you'll be alright; you don't even want to join those Rare Hunters. They won't get you to crack."

"You never really wanted to join Dartz," Téa said, immediately. "If you had, you never would've broken free. Deep down, you held onto yourself. I just hope I can, too."

Mai was about to say something in contradiction, but realized that Téa was going to have none of it.

"Well," she said at last, as they reached an intersection. "Here's where we part ways. Keep your chin up, Kiddo."

"I will," Téa promised.

* * *

Seto had arrived home that night to see Mokuba anxiously waiting to hear the events that had occurred, and so his brother informed him of the impressively realistic simulation.

"And how did spending the evening with Téa go?" he asked, knowing that Seto would never bring it up by himself.

"It would've been a lot less embarrassing if half the dweeb patrol hadn't been tailing her," he replied, without thinking.

Mokuba slapped his forehead. Well, there'd be other opportunities…

"So how was your party?" Seto asked.

"Oh, it was great," Mokuba said, perking up. "We had been planning to look around at the festival, but then we heard about that banshee showing up, so we decided against it."

"That psychic was there," Seto informed him.

"Madame Mystíca? That's good; we didn't know where she was these past few days…"

"She was meeting with her daughter; I believe you and I know her as Aranea Vulsor."

Mokuba nearly choked on the glass of water he was drinking.

"No way!" he cried. "But Madame Mystíca's on our side, isn't she?"

Seto quickly launched into an explanation of what he had heard from Mystíca, as well as the detective.

"It turns out that Vulsor is forcing that boy to marry her; you remember those detectives who came by our office not too long ago?"

"Yeah," said Mokuba. "One of them gave Gozaburo's digital spirit a makeover as a gag; boy, was he mad…"

"That's the one she's after; something about a broken Egyptian medallion."

"Ouch…" said the boy. "Well, is there anything we can do?"

"Nothing at all," Seto insisted. "We're staying out of it. Though the man's brother was telling me something about the medallion upstairs. I offered to let Yugi take a look at it, but he doesn't think we should touch it."

"Well, you know… Yugi is almost always right…"

Seto merely rolled his eyes.

"Well, I certainly have no use for that medallion," he insisted. "It's time to focus on more important things; I have neglected my email the entire evening."

Mokuba merely shrugged to himself as his brother headed upstairs and decided to turn in, as well soon after.

Seto was working well into the night; the light from the computer screen gleamed against the gold medallion on the desk. Seto frowned; he was sure he had kept it on the dresser; how had it gotten there? Well, he certainly wasn't ready to believe that it had gone there of its own accord…

He frowned, suppressing a yawn. He was tired; and somewhere in the back of his mind, he could hear the mysterious whispering that he had heard two nights ago.

Ironic… He had first heard that voice when von Krolock called him. And now, after spending the evening at his dinner party… No, he was being foolish! It had to be some bizarre coincidence, or, at the very least, von Krolock was using his holograms to make it seem as though the medallion was talking…

With a roll of his eyes, Seto picked up the artifact. That young detective probably meant well, but, clearly, nothing was happening to him now. He tossed the medallion into one of the dresser drawers and went back to his laptop, trying to ward off the sleep that was creeping in.

He glanced at the clock. It was midnight.

What happened next was still a blur; he woke to the sunlight streaming through the window. He winced, cursing himself for not drawing the curtains closed.

The phone began to ring. Still blinking from the sudden awakening, he answered it.

"Kaiba," he grunted.

"Seto, where have you been!?" his brother's frantic voice asked. "Were you in your office all this time!?"

"What are you talking about…?" Seto trailed off as he realized that he was not in his room, but in his office in the Kaiba Corp. building. He was, thankfully, still in the navy-blue suit from last night, but how had he gotten here!?

He was struggling to pay attention to Mokuba's chiding of how he should've left a not instead of leaving him to worry. The correlation of this oddity was too concerning. The first time he had heard that whisper, he had ended up in his home office. And now, he was in his main office…

He shook the thought from his head. The very notion that the medallion had transported here was ridiculous!

"Good morning, Mr. Kaiba," his secretary said, meekly. "You're in a little early, aren't you?"

"I guess," he said, perplexed and annoyed that he could recall how exactly he had gotten here. "Roland's usually here; is he around?"

"N-No, he isn't, Mr. Kaiba… He's not in," she said. "But…"

"But what?" Seto asked, annoyed with her reluctance to speak.

"I received a call from him a few hours ago."

Seto checked the time.

"That would've been at three in the morning. Why would he be calling you then?"

"He… he said he saw you heading here… on foot…"

"What…?" the CEO asked.

"He was following you, Sir… He had an inkling that something was wrong, and then he headed here. But something went wrong… He said he saw something around your neck glowing, Mr. Kaiba, and he was still on the phone when he saw it. He tried to come closer and see what it was, and the line got cut. I… I came as soon as I could, and all I found was this…" She held up Roland's phone, damaged from an apparent fall. "He's disappeared!"

Seto stared at the phone with an unreadable expression. That story couldn't be true! It couldn't be! …And yet, there was the damaged phone. It couldn't be a trick; Roland would never pull a stunt like that!

The secretary placed the phone on the desk and took her leave as the CEO passed a hand over his weary eyes. Perhaps he was still dreaming… still asleep…

He leaned over, and a cold piece of metal touched the skin of his chest.

The Anubis medallion was indeed around his neck.


	8. From Bad to Worse

Seto stared at the medallion for a full thirty seconds before angrily removing it from his neck. It had to be some sort of trick! Someone had taken Roland, and then made it seem like Seto had done it under the power of the medallion!

…But who would have been able to enter Kaiba Manor, take the medallion, and then bring Seto to his office without him being aware of it…? And just the other night, he had woken up in his own office…

But wait… hadn't his secretary just said that Roland had seen him walking?

Seto ran a hand through his hair in frustration. Was he sleepwalking? Did it have something to do with all of the work he had been doing? And Roland… what had happened to Roland…!? If Seto had been sleepwalking… was it even remotely possible that he had done something to Roland!?

His mind raced, desperately seeing some answers. Well, first of all, he had to find Roland. Roland would be able to tell him exactly what happened… assuming Roland wasn't too badly hurt… or perhaps even worse…

A yell from the phone in his hand brought him to reality; he had forgotten that Mokuba had still been on the line.

"Seto, what happened?!" Mokuba's voice yelled in a panic. "I just got a call from the secretary on the other line—she told me that Roland saw you, and--"

"Disappeared; yes, I heard…" said Seto.

"But what were you doing out there?" Mokuba asked. "You didn't say anything about going to work that early…"

"I wasn't aware of it, either…" Seto muttered.

Mokuba stared at the phone in horror.

"Seto… what does this mean!?"

"I wish I knew…" Seto replied, shutting his eyes and trying to focus. If he had been somewhere of his own volition, he should be able to recall fragments of what happened. Assuming that he wasn't the one responsible for Roland's disappearance, who was? Had they been planning to take him, only Roland ended up thwarting their plan? And there was the all-important question: what if Seto _hadn't_ been there of his own volition?

The young CEO growled in frustration, refusing to believe that he was being mind-controlled. He glared at the medallion in his hand. True, that detective last night had warned him about it, going on about dangers, but Seto certainly didn't believe in any of that!

"Seto…" Mokuba was saying over the line. "You were at that dinner party last night, weren't you? The last time you woke up in your office that morning, it was just after you got off the phone with that head of NightWing Enterprises…"

Seto blinked. Yes, he had spoken to von Krolock that night, and he had also seen him in person the previous night. Could it be that von Krolock was somehow hypnotizing him into aiding him with this plot about the disappearing people? Could he be the reason behind Pegasus' disappearance? Well, he'd just have to have a word with him and get some answers…

"You might be on to something, Mokuba…" said Seto, his eyes narrowing. "I'll be looking into that."

"Be careful…" his brother pleaded.

Mokuba sighed as Seto said his goodbyes and hung up. Something terrible was happening to his elder brother—he just knew it! And even though Seto would probably be furious, Mokuba knew he would have to go to the ones he knew would be able to help: Yugi and his friends.

* * *

Téa had not slept well that night; her nightmares had been filled with visions of Bandit Keith pursuing her through a maze of realistic holograms. She had gone through a door that hadn't truly been a door, but had, in fact, been Arkana's magic cabinet, which closed and locked behind her. All had gone dark, the mad magician's laugh ringing in her ears…

It was at this point that she had awoken with a gasp. She breathed out a sigh of relief and suppressed a shudder as she reflected on how real the dream had seemed…

She hardly ate anything that moment for breakfast; her appetite had been diminished by the nightmare. But she did eat a piece of buttered toast before heading outside to calm her nerves.

She had gotten up early; most of her friends wouldn't even be out of bed yet. And the Game Shop wouldn't be open yet. With another sigh, she decided to stop by the arcade; perhaps a round or two of the dancing game they had in there would serve as a nice morning pick-me-up. And this early, she'd probably be the only one in line.

And she was right; there was only one other person in the arcade—a young man, who was completely absorbed in one of the pinball machines. He didn't give her a glance at all; he was too into his game. Beside him, a year-old Siberian husky sat, waiting for him to finish. Téa wasn't sure that dogs were allowed in the arcade, but she decided not to ruin his fun.

She started a one-player game and began to dance her way through it. Ah, yes… it was definitely working to calm down her nerves. She was in her element… where she belonged… And in spite of how the Rare Hunters tried to shatter her dream, she knew that she could not let them make her quit dancing. As long as she kept dancing, she would be beating them, and that was essential to her spirit.

The young man, finishing up his pinball game, began searching his pockets for more quarters when he finally looked up and saw Téa dancing. He blinked, finally retrieving a quarter, and briefly glanced back at the pinball machine before glancing at the second-player stage on the dancing game.

Shrugging to himself, the young man deposited the quarter in the second-player stage and began to dance. Téa smiled at her opponent, who started out strongly, but found himself unable to keep up with her. Five minutes in, he gave up, the husky giving him an amused look.

"Okay, I surrender!" he yelped, leaping from the stage. "Uncle! You win!"

Téa smiled at him again as her screen displayed the "Level Clear!" sign.

"You started off pretty well…" she said.

"Yeah…" the young man mused. "But I'm no dancer; I'm just a lowly messenger boy…"

"I actually am a dancer…" said Téa. "I'm Téa Gardner."

She extended her hand, and the young man took it, kissing it.

"Enchanted…" he said, softly.

Téa just smiled, admittedly slightly flattered.

_Careful_… her mind told herself. _Flattery was how you got yourself involved with those Rare Hunters_…

She pushed the thought aside; she didn't want to become as cynical and distrusting of everyone like Seto was! She had to believe that this young man was on the level.

"And you are…?" she asked.

The young man blinked.

"Well…" he said. "My friends call me Pip sometimes… short for Pippin—we have a _Lord of the Rings_ thing going on sometimes…"

Téa blinked. They called him that "sometimes"? A thought prodded her mind: did he have something to hide? His friendly nature was something she had seen before in Aurus.

"Well, it's certainly nice to meet you, Pip," she said, managing a smile. There wasn't much sincerity in her words; she wasn't about to trust him.

"Likewise…" the young man replied. He blinked as the husky barked at him. "Oh, and this is Borealis. So, where're you headed this fine morning?"

"Oh, I'm just catching up with some friends," said Téa, not keen on giving away too many details. "In fact, I think I'd better go…"

"Great," said the young man. "I'm just… wandering around aimlessly, I suppose…"

He and the dog headed outside with her, glancing around at the nearby buildings. Téa wasn't sure if she wanted to head to the Game Shop with this stranger in tow; what if he _was_ a Rare Hunter?

"You know, if I had the time, I'd love to show you around town, but as it is…" She trailed off as a Dronyche Company limo pulled up alongside her. The tinted window lowered, revealing a smug Aranea Vulsor. Travencore was visible in the seat beside her.

"What happened?" she asked. "Did Kaiba decide to dump you? I wouldn't blame him after those friends of yours crashed the party last night."

"Why would you care…?" the dancer retorted. "It's not like we were together at all. And you've got a lot of nerve showing your face after he and I both know that you were the one who knocked him out last night!"

"And what proof do you have to back up such a claim…?" Vulsor challenged.

Téa gritted her teeth, but remained silent. Of course, she was right—they'd never be able to prove it was her unless they went inside that ruined manor and got the fingerprints of whatever it was she had used to knock Seto out.

"Well, I bet your dear mother could prove you did it," said Téa.

If she had been wanting to get a reaction from Vulsor, she succeeded beyond her wildest dreams. The fair-haired woman's eyes flashed with rage before glaring back at Téa.

"You know _nothing_," Vulsor hissed. "Why don't you ask her about how she was the one responsible for my father's death—and how she kept it from me for twelve years!?"

Téa gasped. Madame Mystica, a killer…? No, it wasn't possible—it couldn't be! She had saved Seto's life after he had been bitten by one of Aranea's funnel web spiders!

Téa looked away, trying to collect her thoughts, and she blinked; she had just noticed that the young man and the husky who had been next to her moments ago had just vanished. But he was the last thing on her mind; she was more concerned with how they had put so much trust and faith in someone who possibly… No, she couldn't think that! Why would she just take Aranea's word on the matter, after they knew how devious she was? And yet, the look in Aranea's eyes had been one of genuine rage…

The CEO didn't wait for Téa to come up with a reply; she had ordered her chauffeur to drive away as she raised the tinted window again.

Téa stood there, numbly, trying to pull together the confusing thoughts when a voice spoke from back inside the arcade.

"Wow, you sure ticked her off…" said the young messenger boy, crawling out from under a pinball machine near the door. The husky crawled out behind him. "You've gotta teach me how to do that…"

"Pip?" she asked. "What were you doing under there?"

"Well, I could say that I was looking for a quarter I dropped, but… I was hiding…" He indicated the limo, which turned at the corner. Borealis growled angrily at the retreating limo.

"You were hiding from Aranea Vulsor?" Téa asked. "You mean, you know her?"

"Oh, yeah…" he replied, with a heavy sigh, looking far less upbeat than before. "She's my bride to be…"

"Oh, so _you're_ Vulsor's fiancé…" Téa exclaimed. "I never would've guessed it was you…"

"Do I know you…?" he asked, confused.

"No, I don't think so…" said Téa. "But I met someone yesterday who mentioned you; he said you were his brother--"

"Where!?" he asked, looking suddenly relieved. "Where did you see him!? Was he alone, or was there someone else there, too?!"

"I… Calm down, Pip; it was just him…" she said, taken aback by his sudden change of tone. "He was an investigator who was looking into a banshee sighting last night at the festival; apparently, she's one of this Vulsor's ancestors…"

"Oh, no…" the young man murmured. "Yeah, I know all about her; she's partly the reason why I'm forced to marry 'this Vulsor.'"

"You don't want to marry her?" Téa asked, recalling what the investigator had mentioned last night.

"Are you kidding? You think I'd want to marry the Spider Woman? She refuses to have the cobwebs cleared in her manor! And besides… you know that female spiders kill their lovers… If she's spent as much time as she has with those creepy-crawlies, there's a very good chance she may have picked up some habits from them—including that one…" He shuddered.

"Then why are you going through with it?" asked Téa, disturbed by the thought.

"Well… it's a long story," sighed the young man. "She doesn't want to let me out of it. I probably could get out of it if we took it to court, but I'm hoping if I do go along with it, it'll help find my missing colleague and friend. But first of all, I have to find two more of my colleagues who're supposed to be here… You said you saw one of them, right?"

"Yeah…" said Téa. Then, a thought struck her. "I thought he looked familiar, though; I think I have seen him before."

"Well, we've been to Domino on assignment before…" he replied

Téa nodded, understanding. She knew now that she could trust him; he was clearly trying to help them solve the case.

"You know, there're some people I think you should meet," she said. She knew where she would be taking him—to Yugi's game shop.

* * *

They were not the only two heading for the Game Shop; two Egyptian brothers had just arrived in a taxi as Yugi was helping Solomon open for the day.

"Yugi…!" Marik exclaimed, his expression a mix of fatigue, worry, and a little bit of hope. Odion was beside him, his face careworn as well.

"Marik…" Yugi said, unsure of what to say. What was there to say to someone who had a missing sister he clearly cared about? "How are you holding up?"

The Egyptian boy let out a long sigh.

"It's hard, Yugi…" he said. "I haven't found out much, but based on what I do know… I have a feeling that all of those missing people… Well…" He swallowed hard. "They weren't taken for ransom."

Yugi's eyes widened. Unbidden to his mind came the dark take of the Millennium Items—how 99 souls had been "harvested" to create them.

And now he felt ill. Could it be that there was some other ritual—one connected with the Anubis and Anput medallions? Was that why people were going missing at an alarming rate. And was it already too late for some or all of them!? No, he couldn't think like that—those missing people had to be found alive and well!

"I'm so worried about her…" said Marik, blinking back a couple tears as Odion bowed his head, praying again. "I came here because I hoped that you would help us find her—find all of them…"

"Of course…" said Yugi. "We'll do everything we can! The others are all on their way here; we knew you were coming."

"Thank you, Yugi…" Marik replied, sincerely. "One can easily see the influence that Atem has had on you--"

Marik was cut off, abruptly, as something large and furry appeared right in front of his face, proceeding to lick him. Marik yelped, falling over and looking up to see a husky showering him with greetings.

"Down, Borealis! _Down_!" a voice called.

Yugi turned to see Téa arriving with a young man he didn't recognize. The young man was frantically calling to the husky, which merely continued to greet Marik warmly. Finally, the young man pulled the dog away, helping Marik to his feet as he apologized profusely.

"I am so sorry…" he said. "My brother is usually the only one who can get Borealis to listen when he's in a hyperactive mood like this."

"That's alright…" Marik replied with a good-natured smile as he wiped his face with a handkerchief. "At least he's friendly." He glanced at Téa. "Hello, Téa. It's been a long time…"

"Yes, it has…" she agreed. "I'm sorry to hear about Ishizu; I hope you find her…"

"Marik was just telling me that he wanted our help," Yugi said. "I told him we'd be only too happy to help."

"Oh, of course!" Téa agreed.

"Thanks…" Marik said.

"The developments that Marik has found out, few as they are, have worried us greatly," said Odion. "He was just telling Yugi that the missing people… probably will never be seen again if the perpetrators have their way."

"What!?" the young messenger boy asked, looking up from chiding Borealis.

All eyes turned to him.

"Are you a friend of Téa's?" Yugi asked.

"He is now," Téa replied. "He goes by the nickname of Pip; he's the colleague and brother of the investigator we met yesterday… and he's the one Vulsor wants to marry. But what's this about the missing people never being seen again?"

"I'll be telling everyone my theory when they arrive here," said Marik. "I pray that my theory about the unfolding events is wrong. But if I am right, we could be dealing with something far worse than when Zorc attempted to destroy ancient Egypt."

Only an eerie, stunned silence replied his solemn words.


	9. The Theory and the Plan

One by one, the rest of the Domino duelists arrived of the game shop. Pip and Borealis kept to one corner of the room, going mostly unnoticed as the others greeted each other, and especially when Mokuba showed up.

"What brings you here…?" Joey asked the young Vice President.

"Something's been happening to Seto," he said. "I thought that maybe you guys might be able to help, but I see that you're busy…"

"Of course we're willing to help," said Yugi. "We'll hear you and Marik out."

"Marik can go first," Mokuba said. He still had to figure out the best way to phrase what was going on; he wasn't so sure of what was going on in the first place. But he did know that something was terribly wrong.

The young Egyptian boy cleared his throat.

"I was in the middle of researching the Anubis pendant when my sister vanished," he said. "I half wonder if I was getting too close…"

"What did you find out?" asked Mai.

"I'll show you…" said Marik, taking out one of the books he had checked out from the library. He showed them the image of the medallion, and a stone slab found next to it with hieroglyphs carved on it. "This passage on the stone talks about a set of seven medallions, with this Anubis pendant being the most powerful one of all. These seven medallions were brought together by a turncoat advisor from Sethos' court in an attempt to try to usurp the kingdom from him. The ensuing events described in the passage are very similar to what happened during the battle with Zorc, except for one event." He pulled out a magnifying glass to enlarge a part of the text. "I spent a long time trying to find out what this word means; I haven't seen it in any other text until I did bit more research on the flight here. Breaking it down in both phonetics and context…" He shook his head in disbelief. "There was an ice storm in Thebes towards the end of Sethos' reign."

"An ice storm…?" Joey asked, blankly. "In the middle of the desert?"

"That's what I didn't understand, either, until I found out some more information on Anput." He turned the page, revealing another medallion. "Doesn't she look familiar?"

"She looks just like Anubis—jackal head and everything…" said Tristan, blinking in amazement. "So she married him?"

"Guess when you're a half-human, half-jackal, your matrimonial options are limited, huh?" Joey cracked, pulling a sandwich out of his backpack and sinking his teeth into it.

Mai rolled her eyes in amusement.

"Really witty…" she said, but then flinched at the pungent odor of the sandwich. "Urgh; Joey, _what_ are you eating?"

"You noticed, huh?" he replied. "I figured since we've got a vampire running around Domino, it wouldn't hurt to have a nice supply of sandwiches with a lot of garlic. What we've got here is a sandwich fresh from the deli, fortified with pesto sauce and actual roasted garlic cloves."

Marik just blinked at the sandwich, but continued.

"According to the text, Anput made her appearance after several people had…" He swallowed hard. "…Vanished in the midst of the ice storm. Fifty people overall had disappeared… And then she arrived."

"Just like they're disappearing now…" gasped Téa. "How many people have vanished this time?"

"Including Ishizu, thirty-one, I believe," said Odion.

"Thirty-two…" Mokuba said, glumly, as everyone turned to stare at him. "Roland vanished early this morning; that was one of the things I wanted to talk to you guys about…"

"Oh, dear…" said Bakura. "So they only have twenty-eight people left…"

"Anput began to ravage the land when she showed up; she was supposedly trying to collect another fifty souls to bring back Anubis," said Marik, turning the page. All seven medallions were on the next page. "But then something happened—a final battle between the new Millennium Guardians and the wielders of these seven dark medallions. The Guardians won, but at a price; just as his cousin Atem had depleted his _ba_ in battle before him, Sethos, too, gave up his _ba_ to stop the ringleader of the Medallion gang—the one who summoned Anput. Because her summoner was defeated, along with four of the medallions destroyed, Anput, too, was defeated--"

He was cut off as Joey let out a yell of protest. Borealis the husky had grabbed the half-eaten garlic sandwich out of Joey's hand, and the dog was now rooting through his backpack for the rest of them.

"Where'd this dog come from…!?" Joey demanded.

"Sorry," said Pip, hurrying over from his seat in the corner of the room, pulling the hungry husky away, but not before the canine had purloined another sandwich. "His grandfather was a wolf, and he retains a bit of those instincts… especially when he smells food…"

"And… who're you…?" Joey asked, baffled and also annoyed at having his food stolen by an animal for the second time that week. Delphi taking the pizza had been bad enough, but these sandwiches were going to be his first line of defense against the vampire!

"This is Pip, the brother of that detective we met at the festival," said Téa. "He's also Vulsor's unwilling fiancé."

"Very unwilling," said Pip. "But never mind about me." He turned back to Marik. "What happened to the fifty people who vanished back in the day?"

Marik swallowed hard.

"There's no record of what happened to them after Anput appeared or disappeared…" he said. "I think… I think their souls were sacrificed to summon her. And that's why I think that the people who are vanishing now will never be seen again… They're going to be used to bring Anput back!"

"Then we've got to stop whoever's behind this!" Duke fumed, clenching a fist. "They could be after another innocent soul even as we speak!" _Like Serenity_…

"But… are the missing people already sacrificed?" asked Mai, horrified. If so, it would be too late for them… for Ishizu…

"I don't think so…" said Marik. "Based on what I've read, the missing people were described to be 'prisoners of the ice' before Anput returned. If that's the case, then the people missing now still have a chance, but only if we find where they're being held and free them before all fifty are… collected." He hated saying that word, but that was, in fact, what they were doing.

"But where do we start looking?" asked Yugi. "And who are we looking for? We still don't know who's behind this!"

Mokuba swallowed hard.

"I think… I think my brother was possessed by the Anubis medallion," he said. "Roland had been talking to a secretary just moments before he vanished. He saw my brother with the medallion around his neck—sleepwalking. And then he vanished! Seto probably doesn't want to admit it, but I think he thinks that he unconsciously did something to Roland… And after hearing Marik's story, I'm inclined to believe it myself!"

Téa stared in horror at Mokuba's words. Seto had already been possessed by Anubis before, during the Pyramid of Light fiasco; could it be that Anubis still had some sort of hold on him, augmented by the medallion, and now was trying to use him as a pawn to revive Anput? It was a horrifying—but all too possible—thought. But that did point the fingers at someone.

"Anubis…" she said. "And… hadn't Madame Mystíca mentioned about Vulsor associating with the Rare Hunters? I know Vulsor attacked Kaiba at the dinner party. Wasn't it that night he started sleepwalking?"

"No; he woke up in his home office a couple nights before that without knowing how he got there…" said Mokuba.

"So much for that idea…" the dancer sighed. But she decided that she needed to have a talk with Seto—he couldn't handle this alone, no matter how much he wanted to.

"Maybe not…" said Yugi, in deep thought. "It's possible that Bandit Keith might know something about Anubis and Anput. If he and Vulsor are exchanging information, maybe it's the Rare Hunters who are making everyone disappear. Didn't you say that you and Kaiba got that Anubis medallion from a Rare Hunter?"

"That's right…!" Téa recalled. The Medallion had belonged to Aurus, a young and rather reluctant Rare Hunter. He, personally, didn't know about the medallion, but the other Hunters had, for they had seemed ready to severely punish him for losing it to Seto.

"But what to the Rare Hunters hope to gain from bringing Anubis and Anput to this world?" asked Mai.

"The turncoat advisor who summoned Anput was supposedly able to control her to a point," said Marik, paging through the book. "Bandit Keith probably hopes to accomplish the same; he's probably already made a deal with Anubis, and that's why Anubis is attempting to control Kaiba through the medallion."

"So… it's _not_ the vampire that's makin' Kaiba sleepwalk…?" asked Joey.

"I'm not so sure von Krolock is a vampire, but Seto thinks he may have something to do with what happened…" said Mokuba. "The first time Seto sleepwalked, he had spoken to von Krolock, and this time, it was right after actually meeting him in person."

"He could be working with the Rare Hunters…" said Tristan. "Or it could be a colossal coincidence."

"But what if it isn't?" asked Mokuba, now worried. "He's probably arranging a meeting with von Krolock right now to get some answers! If he's somehow allowing Anubis to get to Seto…" He trailed off.

"I must admit, I'm concerned with why Kaiba doesn't seem to be resisting the mind control, if that's what's going on…" said Yugi. "Atem said that Kaiba was able to partly resist Anubis' control the last time. Even if he's only trying to control him while asleep, Kaiba's subconscious should be stronger than that…"

"Maybe there's another factor…" said Bakura. "Hypnosis, perhaps…"

"But you can resist hypnosis…" said Mai. "Someone like Kaiba could, at least; he probably doesn't even believe in it… But Kaiba could be affected by something like a drug. I know Valon sent me an email a while back about a scare he had trying to help out Pegasus. He, Alister, and Raphael had been looking through an old lab on Dronyche Company property, and Valon had a cut that was exposed to a drug that had been stored there--"

"Back up!" said Joey. "Dronyche is Vulsor's company!"

And now Pip suddenly blinked.

"Was that drug in an old bottle of wine—like… from the 1880's?" he asked.

"I'll have to double-check that email…" said Mai, and Mokuba immediately lent her his handheld computer.

"The 1880's…?" asked Téa. "When Kaiba and I were in Italy over the summer, we asked someone about that same Anubis medallion. She said that her ancestor was an opera singer who owned the medallion… Her name escapes me, but she started having blackouts and sleepwalking spells just like Kaiba's having now! And the Rare Hunter who owned this medallion last told me that it was Vulsor who ended up giving it to his cousin."

Marik blinked.

"I wasn't aware that this medallion had a record of being owned," he said. "From what I understood, four of the seven medallions were destroyed, and the other three were lost."

"So Vulsor somehow got her hands on it after that opera singer did…" said Yugi. "And then gave it to the Rare Hunters."

"…And according to Valon's email, the serum _was _in an old wine bottle…" Mai added.

"I thought so…" sighed Pip. "That juice was how she got me to sign the marriage license… Guess she's letting the Rare Hunters use it, too…"

"But… why is Vulsor helping Keith?" asked Duke. "What's in it for her?"

"I guess those are questions we'll have to answer as we figure this out…" said Yugi. "But at least we know where to start."

"But what about von Krolock?" asked Joey. "We have to stop him from meeting Kaiba again…! Kaiba could get mind-controlled again… or bitten!"

"You really aren't going to let the vampire thing go, are you…?" Tristan asked, rolling his eyes.

"You just wait; this is another angle of the mystery that I'll take into my own hands to solve!" the young blond stated. He brandished a garlic sandwich like a wooden stake, only to have it pulled from his hand by the hungry husky.

"Some of us should check out Dronyche and make sure Vulsor isn't trying anything even as we speak," added Duke. "And Maybe Madame Mystíca can tell us something…"

Téa didn't want to say what Vulsor had told her just before coming her. She wanted to give Madame Mystíca the benefit of the doubt, but… Could she be certain? And then there was Pip. He would be useful in getting information on Vulsor… But was he truly a detective? She wasn't sure, and she decided that she wasn't going to fully trust him until she was convinced.

"Téa?" Yugi asked, bringing her to the present. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I… was just thinking that we should also have someone intercept Kaiba before he meets von Krolock," she bluffed.

"Maybe you should," Mokuba said, feeling as though Seto would be more receptive to her. "I'll be there, too."

Téa glanced at him and nodded.

"I'll go to Dronyche and see what's going on," said Yugi.

"I'll go, too; you might need backup with Vulsor involved…" said Duke.

"And I guess that leaves Bakura and me to check things out with Madame Mystíca…" said Tristan. "Unless Mai wants to come, too…"

"No; _someone_ needs to make sure Joey doesn't make a complete fool out of himself…" the blond woman said, with a slight smirk as Joey protested.

"I would like to go with you, Tristan," said Marik. "If she is as good a medium as your emails have described, then I pray she has some way of letting me know that Ishizu is alright, wherever she is."

"I, too, wish to find out about our sister," Odion agreed.

"And I'm going to stay out of your way and try to find my brother…" Pip said, coaxing Borealis out the door. "See you around…"

The others saw him off.

"Where did you find that character…?" Tristan asked Téa.

"At the arcade…" she sighed, no longer sure of what to make of him now. But there were other things to worry about, she decided.

After all, getting through to Seto Kaiba was no easy task.


	10. Number ThirtyThree

_Author's note: Behold, it lives! And after realizing that my muse has been dodging _Yu-Gi-Oh_ in favor of _Hogan's Heroes_, I have decided that this will be a duology instead of the originally intended trilogy. I have every intention of finishing it, and goodness knows I will._

* * *

Téa was still lost in thought during the limo ride to KaibaCorp.

"I don't even know what I'm supposed to say," she said, as she got out of the limo as they arrived. "He's not exactly the easiest person to talk to…"

"Just say what you believe," Mokuba said. "I know it seems weird, but Seto really does listen to you more than you think."

"Somehow, I never quite got that vibe from him," she replied, somewhat dryly, as they headed up the elevator.

Even as they exited the elevator, they could hear the young CEO's angry ranting from the outer office as he talked to someone over the phone. The secretary gave Mokuba a helpless shrug.

"Oh, boy…" he murmured. "Who's he talking to?"

"That CEO of NightWing Enterprises," the secretary replied. "He's been at it for a while now, demanding to know what the idea was behind last night's stunt and asking what he knows about Mr. Roland's disappearance. Shall I tell him you're here?"

"Better not," Mokuba said, leading Téa to the inner office. "Hey, Seto…"

The CEO looked up briefly before turning his attention back to the phone. He then performed the slightest double-take as he realized that Téa was there, as well, but went back to his phone call, keeping an eye on the streaming news on his laptop.

Von Krolock was taking the accusations very calmly, assuring that he had no information to give to Seto, but offering whatever help he could.

"Then I take it that you'll accept a face-to-face meeting?" Seto inquired.

"Of course," von Krolock replied. "When do you wish to meet? I can arrive at anytime."

"Is there any particular reason why _I_ can't arrive at _your_ headquarters?" Seto asked, suspicious. He was hiding something, surely.

"Because I do not have one just yet," von Krolock said. "I have only just arrived in Domino; I am staying at the Hotel Silver along Domino Pier. If you wish to meet me there, we can discuss whatever you wish in the conference room."

Téa's eyes widened slightly. Discreetly, she texted this information to Mai; perhaps this would help their investigation of von Krolock—not that Téa believed that he was a vampire, of course, but it certainly was strange that the odd events in Domino had skyrocketed in number ever since his arrival.

"Fine, the hotel conference room," said Seto. "I'll meet you there tonight—8:00." He had no intentions of having dinner with the man.

Mokuba caught Téa's eye; he, clearly, disapproved of the idea. She shrugged, helplessly, as Seto said his goodbyes and hung up.

"Seto, do you think it's a good idea to meet him that late?" the boy asked.

"It's an upscale, crowded hotel, Mokuba," Seto replied. "He'd be an idiot to try anything there." He frowned. After last night, he wasn't convinced that von Krolock wasn't partly crazy anyway. Shaking his head, he turned to Téa. "And what are you doing here?"

"Uh… Oh, yeah, that's right," she said. "I just… wanted to thank you for taking me to the dinner party and for the ride…" She trailed off as Mokuba cleared his throat. "And to see how you are after… after…" _Get ahold of yourself_! "Kaiba, are you okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Seto answered.

"Because of this, for starters," Téa said, grabbing the Anubis medallion from the desk before Seto could hide it from sight. She was careful to hold it by its cord rather than by the disc itself. "Kaiba, we just had a conversation with Marik; he thinks that all of these disappearances are the work of the Rare Hunters; they're going to sacrifice the souls of fifty people to bring back Anput, the wife of Anubis. That will let them bring back Anubis, too. Marik… well, all of us, really, think that Anubis is controlling you with this medallion in order to help the Rare Hunter's plan. Roland is going to be one of the fifty souls."

Seto glared at her for a moment.

"Impossible," he said, unable to fully hide the unease in his eyes.

"Seto!" Mokuba protested. "Seto, there's something up with that medallion! And… you could be next—once the Rare Hunters and Anubis think they've used you as much as they can, you'll be vanishing next!"

"I won't deny that the Rare Hunters may have something to do with this—not to mention that Vulsor woman, as well," Seto responded. "But there is no way that they can lay a hand on me—and certainly no ancient spirit. They're trying to make me believe that I'm going crazy—that _I_ did something to Roland. That isn't possible."

"Kaiba, why do you always insist on acting like this?" Téa asked, clenching her fists in frustration. "You don't have to always be in such denial." Her expression softened. "I know that deep down, you _are_ worried about Roland—and worried that you did do something to him. But Marik believes that until all fifty people are captured, they'll be fine; you can help get him back. You don't have to be afraid—"

"I am _not_ afraid!" Seto spat, his eyes blazing as he looked up. "I fear nothing."

"Nothing except being afraid," Téa said, softly, undaunted. "Kaiba, there is no shame in asking for help when you don't know what to do."

"Gardner, I _know_ what to do," he said, through gritted teeth. "I'm going to have a long talk with that von Krolock and get some answers. I have a sneaking suspicion that he is involved with the Rare Hunters. He probably had someone follow me last night—and did something to Roland while I was…" He trailed off.

"Sleepwalking," Mokuba finished. "Seto, you have never sleepwalked in your entire life until this whole mess started happening. How do you explain that?"

"Kaiba, we think you may have been drugged at the party last night," Téa said. "It must have happened when you were knocked out; none of us who ate the food sleepwalked. If Vulsor was the one who knocked you out, she probably slipped the drug to you; Mai heard from Valon that there was a bottle of odd serum that made him act abnormally because he had a cut that was exposed to it. She's probably slipping you the serum somehow."

"Yeah, but how did she do it the first time?" Mokuba asked. "Seto was at home all day."

"That's the mystery we need to figure out," Téa agreed. "Kaiba, please… let us help you. Accepting help won't make you any less of a man."

"I don't _need_ help, Gardner," he retorted.

The dancer placed a hand on his wrist.

"But let me help, anyway," she said, softly. "I'm in your debt for when you saved me from the Rare Hunters over the summer. Please… let me help."

Seto looked up again to glare at her. Two sets of blue eyes locked. Two wills—one of fire and one of ice—began to battle.

Mokuba blinked, attempting to make a casual retreat to let things work out for themselves, but was stopped by the news anchor on Seto's laptop began to speak of the case in question.

"_We have a breaking update concerning the mysterious worldwide disappearances. We have just received confirmation of the disappearance of two men within the last seven hours; early this morning, a Kaiba Corporation executive vanished from the business district of Domino City, while no less than two hours ago, a retired pilot of the Royal Air Force vanished in the Stepney neighborhood of London. The victims' names are being withheld for the present_."

"Number thirty-three," Mokuba whispered.

"We're running out of time," Téa realized, a shiver going down her spine.

"_As with the previous cases_," the report continued. "_The victims appeared to have been chosen at random. However, unlike previous cases, where there were no traces left behind, personal items of the victims were found at both scenes: the cell phone of the Domino City victim, and a throwing knife belonging to the London victim, perhaps used in an attempt to defend himself from his kidnapper. In addition, both victims appeared to have been on the phone at the time of their disappearances; those on the other line reported hearing sounds of struggle before silence. Authorities are looking into the disappearances, but have not found any clues in either case._"

"You didn't tell them about the medallion or von Krolock?" Téa asked Seto.

"I don't have the evidence to make an accusation against von Krolock, but I hope to change that tonight," the CEO replied. "And there is no way I would report an Egyptian medallion as a clue because of it allegedly containing a spirit. And if you're going to insist on helping, I thank you not to question my decisions."

"Oh, sorry; I was just…" She trailed off. "You mean…?"

"Don't think this is me 'opening up,' in any way," Seto retorted. "You're so keen on repaying this debt; who am I to stop you?"

The dancer smiled, as did Mokuba. This was a triumph for the both of them. Fire had won over the ice today.

* * *

Duke and Yugi heard the news report over the radio as they drove to the Dronyche Company headquarters.

"I don't believe this…!" Yugi said, disgusted. "They took Roland _and_ an innocent, old man?"

"Interesting that they were both on the phone when they vanished," Duke murmured. "I wonder… Maybe these two disappearances—and Ishizu's—weren't as random as the report claimed. Think about it. Marik was researching about the legend, and what happens? Ishizu disappears. People on the phone are vanishing now, unlike the previous cases, when they were just taken from their beds. And they were struggling, too—that retired solider pulled a knife on them, didn't he? I think it's because they knew too much."

"Roland _was_ following the sleepwalking Kaiba when he was talking to the secretary," Yugi agreed. "If it is the Rare Hunters, then they really want to make sure that there are no witnesses. Kaiba's secretary didn't get any information, though; Mokuba would've told us if there had been any leads. We need to find out if that Englishman managed to give a clue to the person he was talking to before he vanished."

"How can we?" Duke asked. "They're not releasing his name."

"I know…" sighed Yugi. "But someone with prestige could probably get the name—especially when his right-hand man was the other victim…"

"You mean get Kaiba to get the name of the other victim?" Duke replied. "Yugi, Kaiba would never bother with someone who wasn't connected to him in any way."

"It's worth a try," Yugi said. "Téa's there; she can probably convince him if we put the idea in Kaiba's head to start with."

"Can't hurt," Duke agreed. He sighed as he pulled into the parking garage next to the Dronyche Company building. "Actually, yes it can."

"What do you mean?" Yugi asked.

"Think about it," Duke said. "If Roland and that other man vanished because they were getting too close for comfort, what's going to happen to us once we get ourselves deeper into this mystery? Getting captured by crooks is one thing. Even getting killed by them doesn't seem as bad as a half-human, half-jackal devouring your soul." He shuddered. "What happens to you after something like that? Does your soul just… get digested? You can't go to the afterlife because you don't exist anymore? Yugi, we're talking about a fate _worse_ than death. And you know exactly what I'm talking about, don't you? You and a bunch of the others somehow managed to survive it, when Dartz summoned that Leviathan. But from what I understand, you managed to defeat the thing before it could digest your souls. What would've happened if you had run out of time?"

Yugi blinked.

"Well…" he said. "My soul was spared before the Leviathan was actually summoned—Kaiba and Joey were, too. We just got sucked through its skin, which… wasn't much better, I suppose. On the other hand… I could feel it starting, since Atem was in control of my body at the time. It was a very chilling sensation. You start to feel less and less like yourself… as though you're being…" He trailed off.

"Assimilated?" Duke offered.

"Yeah," Yugi whispered, shuddering at the memory. "You start to forget things—little things at first, but I'm sure I would've forgotten more had we run out of time. I guess you become a part of it, without your consciousness. Yeah, that's it. I think it's your consciousness that is destroyed; I don't think your soul can ever truly be destroyed, but if your consciousness is, then… your soul doesn't need to be destroyed. In fact, it's the eternal energy of your soul that probably feeds the monster that devours it."

"That's still a fate worse than death," Duke declared, pulling into an empty parking space. "You can't remember anything about how your life was like; you go on for eternity, thinking that you've always been a part of that abomination."

"Until a dormant spark within you rekindles," Yugi said, as he and Duke got out of the car. "That's how we freed everyone—Atem got them to remember the important parts of their lives. His consciousness was always strong." He gave a wan smile. "If he were he, he'd know exactly how to stop those Rare Hunters."

"Maybe we should tell Bakura to ask that psychic for a séance," Duke said, dryly. "Well, here we go; into the lion's den."

"What's our cover?" Yugi asked.

"I guess I'm going to ask if there's any future for Dungeon Dice Monsters' technology to be improved by hers," he said. "Hopefully, I won't be talking to her directly; she knows I'm an acquaintance of yours. I'm going to keep them busy, which'll give you a chance to look around. If there's any trouble, send an S.O.S. text message—'Save Our Souls.' I'll do the same if I'm found out."

"And then we run?" Yugi asked. He swallowed hard. "Everyone for himself?"

"Afraid so; if they must gain more souls, it's better if it's just one more as opposed to two more," Duke agreed, somberly. He crossed to the trunk, pulling out a set of trenchcoats. "But first, we try to bluff the lobby."

"Right," said Yugi. This had to work. There was so much more at stake, as Duke's ponderings had revealed.

They couldn't let innocent people suffer such a fate.


End file.
